A heterogeneous breast phantom for microwave breast imaging.

Recently there has been significant attention given to imaging biological tissues using microwave radiation. In order to verify microwave imaging algorithms, realistic body models are needed to measure and simulate the penetration of microwave energy into the tissue and to reconstruct the image. We have created a phantom which has dielectric properties that are close to the properties of the real breast tissue. The phantom includes materials that accurately simulate the dielectric properties of skin, fat, gland and tumor tissues while providing good contrast of conductivity. The phantom is fabricated from materials that are widely available and is easy to make. In addition the elasticity of the materials enables the phantom to be shaped into two dimensional (2D) or three dimensional (3D) forms.