Abstract
CHARACTERISTICS AND PROSPECTS OF MICROWAVE THERMOGRAPHY
Nwabueze C. A. and *Jaja V. I.
ABSTRACT
The microwave thermography is a non-invasive method of measuring internal tissue temperature through the detection of microwave radiation emitted from heated tissue. This noninvasive technique makes use of the human body emission in accordance to Planck radiation law. In microwave thermography, this feature is used for multiple purposes such as health indicator in medical applications. Scientific evidence suggests that thermography may only confirm the presence of a temperature difference, and other procedures are needed to reach a specific diagnosis. Microwave Thermography was possible because human tissues emit thermal radiation whose intensity at microwave frequency is proportional to tissue temperature. However, a potential advantage results if microwave and infrared thermography are used together for screening, and if mammography is used only for follow-up on those patients who were positive on either the microwave or the infrared thermograms. It is then possible to obtain true-positive and true-negative detection rates of 0.09 and 0.9, respectively, while only half the number of patients need be subjected to x-rays. The advantage of using microwaves are both avoiding ionization radiation and breast compression, using a fast method, specific and cheaper than MRI and has a fast Image processing. Microwave thermography system allows the detection of deep malignant structures because of the fact that microwaves have greater wave length as compared with the infrared radiation and less absorbed by the tissue on which it covers from the tumor to the surface. The most widely tested applications of Microwave thermography includes; Breast cancer detection, Treatment response monitoring of breast cancer patients, Preliminary studies of arthritic knee joints and Abnormalities of the spine. The paper presents various characteristics, prospects and medical application of microwave thermography.
[Full Text Article] [Download Certificate]