Comparison of carbon nanotubes and microbubbles as contrast agents for thermoacoustic imaging by computational studies

Microwave-induced thermoacoustic imaging (TAI) is a promising hybrid modality for breast cancer detection. Reliable diagnosis of breast carcinoma by TAI depends on the contrast in the microwave dielectric properties between the abnormal and surrounding normal tissues. However, the insufficient (merely 10%) endogenous dielectric contrast between the malignant and healthy glandular tissues, from which breast tumors usually originate, greatly challenges the feasibility of TAI in clinical applications, especially for discriminating early-stage breast malignancies.