A novel sensor design for breast cancer scanner based on Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT)

In this study, we proposed a novel sensor for real time 3D imaging of cancerous mass within human breast using the capacitance measurement method, namely Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography developed earlier. The sensor works based on the fact that cancerous mass has much higher relative permittivity as compared with normal breast tissue. The electrical capacitance volume tomography (ECVT) imaging technique is capable of generating volumetric image of permittivity distribution of the breast in real time. The 3D sensor constitutes a half-sphere of sensing region to capture the whole permittivity image of the breast. The sensor consists of 24 electrodes with combined triangular and rectangular shapes. Simulated phantoms as well as actual phantom of human breast constituting paraffin as normal human breast tissue and rubber as breast cancer tissue have been used to test the reliability of the sensor system to evaluate the performance of the ECVT technique for breast cancer imaging. The reconstructed images using simulated objects as well as actual measurement using the actual phantom have shown accurate permittivity distributions. The results obtained showed a great feasibility of the 4D tomography imaging as an alternative for a robust and high speed nonradiation technique for breast cancer screening.