Error analysis of breast tumor signature versus skin thickness at microwave frequencies

The effect of breast skin thickness on electromagnetic scattering is explored in this work using the Ansoft high frequency structure simulator (HFSS) package. The signature of a spherical tumor of 1cm in diameter is compared to the skin effect. A more realistic inhomogeneous breast model is used based on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. This model contains five regions; air, skin, fatty tissue, fibro-glandular tissue and the malignant tumor. The preliminary results of this work indicate that the tumor signature is larger than the effect of the skin in the backscatter for the case presented.