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A large-scale study of the ultrawideband microwave dielectric properties of normal breast tissue obtained from reduction surgeries

Mariya Lazebnik, Leah McCartney, Dijana Popovic, Cynthia B Watkins, Mary J Lindstrom, Josephine Harter, Sarah Sewall, Anthony Magliocco, John H Booske, Michal Okoniewski and Susan C Hagness

Phys. Med. Biol. 52 No 10 (21 May 2007) 2637-2656

Abstract

The efficacy of emerging microwave breast cancer detection and treatment techniques will depend, in part, on the dielectric properties of normal breast tissue. However, knowledge of these properties at microwave frequencies has been limited due to gaps and discrepancies in previously reported small-scale studies. To address these issues, we experimentally characterized the wideband microwave-frequency dielectric properties of a large number of normal breast tissue samples obtained from breast reduction surgeries at the University of Wisconsin and University of Calgary hospitals. The dielectric spectroscopy measurements were conducted from 0.5 to 20 GHz using a precision openended coaxial probe. The tissue composition within the probes sensing region was quantified in terms of percentages of adipose, fibroconnective and glandular tissues. We fit a one-pole Cole-Cole model to the complex permittivity data set obtained for each sample and determined median Cole-Cole parameters for three groups of normal breast tissues, categorized by adipose tissue content (0-30%, 31-84% and 85-100%). Our analysis of the dielectric properties data for 354 tissue samples reveals that there is a large variation in the dielectric properties of normal breast tissue due to substantial tissue heterogeneity. We observed no statistically significant difference between the within-patient and between-patient variability in the dielectric properties.

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Using Gaming Technology to Save Lives, with Medical Imaging

Abstract

A company using games-derived GPU technology to speed up radically processing is Canadian company Acceleware. The company is currently examining the possibility of creating hardware (GPU) accelerated reconstruction algorithms.

Their expertise lies in their ability to harness the parallelizable properties of the GPU, making it an exceptional tool for processing certain algorithms. The business model is to integrate with existing companies, providing seamless integration of their two hardware and software products creating a faster and better end user experience. We believe that we will be able to accelerate the CT-reconstruction algorithm by a significant factor. One of our major goals would be to bring the reconstruction to near real-time, thereby reducing the time spent waiting for image reconstruction, said Acceleware's Alice Ford-Hutchinson. They're joined by another Canadian company, Calgary Scientific Medical Group, which has also exploited the advanced gaming graphic capabilities to manipulate and display large data sets using the computing power of both standard Mac and Microsoft operating systems.

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