Initial characterization of a porTable breast microwave detection device

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death for women in Canada. Access to early breast cancer screening is limited in remote and low-income communities in Canada, as well as low and middle-income countries in the broader international community. Lack of accessible screening tools contributes to inequitable care and increased mortality rates. Microwave breast detection has shown promising results as a low-cost breast cancer screening modality. This work aims to design and develop a portable breast microwave detection device suitable for remote and low-income areas. The device consists of a cylindrical array of patch antennas and, through machine learning, will require no trained personnel to operate or obtain a preliminary diagnosis. Our initial work has monitored the coupling between adjacent antennas to determine the optimal number of patch antennas and experimentally determined the antenna cable time delay.