These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.
Pubmed for Handhelds
PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS
Search MEDLINE/PubMed
Title: Toward contrast-enhanced microwave-induced thermoacoustic imaging of breast cancer: an experimental study of the effects of microbubbles on simple thermoacoustic targets. Author: Mashal A, Booske JH, Hagness SC. Journal: Phys Med Biol; 2009 Feb 07; 54(3):641-50. PubMed ID: 19124946. Abstract: Microwave-induced thermoacoustic tomography (MI-TAT) is an imaging technique that exploits dielectric contrast at microwave frequencies while creating images with ultrasound resolution. We propose the use of microbubbles as a dielectric contrast agent for enhancing the sensitivity of MI-TAT for breast cancer detection. As an initial investigation of this concept, we experimentally studied the extent to which the microwave-induced thermoacoustic response of a dielectric target is modified by the presence of air-filled glass microbubbles. We created mixtures of ethylene glycol with varying weight percentages of microbubbles and characterized both their microwave properties (0.5-6 GHz) and thermoacoustic response when irradiated with microwave energy at 3 GHz. Our data show that the microbubbles considerably lowered the relative permittivity, electrical conductivity and thermoacoustic response of the ethylene glycol mixtures. We hypothesize that the interstitial infusion of microbubbles to a tumor site will similarly create a smaller thermoacoustic response compared to the pre-contrast-agent response, thereby enhancing sensitivity through the use of differential imaging techniques.[Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]