Development of Anatomically Realistic Numerical Breast Phantoms Based on T1- and T2-Weighted MRIs for Microwave Breast Cancer Detection

Anatomically realistic computational electromagnetics models are important tools for testing the feasibility and robustness of image algorithms in microwave breast cancer detection. In this letter, we present the structural development process of a novel anatomically realistic 2-D numerical breast phantom. This phantom is derived from T1- and T2-weighted MRIs of patients. T1 and T2 images for the same slice position are synthesized and transformed into uniform grids mapping to the corresponding dielectric properties of tissues via using edge-detection calibration algorithm and tissue deviation masks. The output grids are compatible with the widely used piecewise-linear mapping from voxel intensities to dielectric properties. The 2-D finite-difference time-domain (2D-FDTD) simulation results of this phantom verify the feasibility of this model. Compared to the existing phantoms, the proposed method is able to export anatomically realistic skin, suspected tumor, and chest wall, which contributes to the improvement of model accuracy.