Repeatability assessement of the Wavelia#2 Microwave Breast Imaging scan: experimental performance analysis prior to clinical investigation

Abstract

Microwave imaging is an emerging imaging modality with the potential to support the diagnosis of breast cancer. Over the last two decades, a notable number of MicroWave Breast Imaging (MWBI) prototype devices have been developed and experimentally tested in Europe, North America and Asia. A small number of prototypes are currently in large-scale clinical investigations towards the demonstration of clinical efficacy, as well as identification of the clinical cases for which MWBI could bring added value over the existing breast imaging modalities. In this chapter, the methodology employed for quantitative assessment of the Wavelia#2 MWBI system reliability based on experimental data is presented. The analysis includes an assembly of the most representative findings from the series of the MWBI experimental tests performed on breast phantoms after installation of the Wavelia#2 investigational device at Galway University Hospital (GUH) – Symptomatic Breast Unit for a Phase-II Pilot clinical investigation. To the authors’ knowledge, the notion of MWBI scan and reconstructed image repeatability assessment has never been addressed before in the MWBI state-of-the-art.