Microwave tomographic spectroscopy system and method

A method for non-invasive microwave tomographic spectroscopy of tissue, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a microwave radiation power source;
• b) providing a plurality of microwave radiation emitter-receivers;
• c) controlling the plurality of microwave radiation emitter-receivers so that a plurality of emitter-receivers are able to emit multiple frequency microwave radiation from the power source to a plurality of emitter-receivers that are receiving the microwave radiation;
• d) placing an interface medium between the emitting and receiving microwave emitter-receivers;
• e) placing tissue to be irradiated within the interface medium;
• f) encoding the microwave radiation which is to be emitted to distinguish an origin among the plurality of emitter-receivers and emitting the microwave radiation from the microwave emitter-receivers;
• g) receiving the microwave radiation in the microwave emitter-receivers after interacting with the tissue and decoding the received microwave radiation so that the origin of the received microwave radiation is distinguishable by the originating emitter;
• and
• h) measuring a change in the microwave radiation after interacting with the tissue.

A method of identifying discrete signals correlating to specific antenna arrays in a microwave tomographic spectroscopy tissue imaging system, comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a microwave tomographic spectroscopy system having a microwave power source, a plurality of microwave emitters-receivers, an interface medium between the microwave emitters-receivers, control means for providing microwave signals to the emitters-receivers and for receiving microwave signals from the emitters-receivers after the microwave signals have interacted with the tissue;
• b) orienting a tissue to be imaged in the interface medium;
• c) encoding the signals originating simultaneously from different emitters and interacting with the tissue;
• and
• d) decoding the signals received by different receivers so that the signals are distinguishable according to the originating emitter.

A method of non-invasive microwave tomographic spectroscopy of tissue, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) designating a target tissue area for microwave irradiation;
• b) determining expected tissue dielectric values for the designated target tissue area;
• c) providing a multiple frequency microwave radiation emitting and receiving system having microwave emission means comprising a plurality of emitter-receiver locations, microwave receiving means comprising a plurality of emitter-receiver locations, and microwave analysis means;
• d) irradiating the target tissue area with the multiple frequency microwave radiation simultaneously emitted from a plurality of emitter-receiver locations;
• e) receiving the microwave radiation from the irradiated target tissue area with the microwave receiving means;
• and
• f) analyzing the received microwave radiation with the microwave analysis means to obtain observed tissue dielectric values and comparing the observed tissue dielectric values with the expected tissue dielectric values to determine a physiologic state of the tissue within the designated target tissue area;
• the analyzing and comparing step including the step of solving the reverse problem to compute a tomographic image of the tissue based on the measured change of the microwave radiation, the reverse problem solution comprising the steps of determining a functional formation component, calculating a derivative value of the functional formation component to create a gradient formation component useful for increasing the processing speed of the mathematical reconstruction calculations, calculating a minimization parameter tau, and performing an E* calculation.

A tomographic spectroscopic method of rapid non-invasive mapping of cardiac tissue to localize different physiologic states of the tissue, comprising the steps of:

• a) designating a target cardiac tissue area for irradiation;
• b) determining expected cardiac tissue dielectric values for the designated cardiac tissue area;
• c) providing a multiple frequency radiation emitting and receiving system having radiation emission means comprising a plurality of emitter-receiver locations, radiation receiving means comprising a plurality of emitter-receiver locations, and radiation analysis means;
• d) irradiating the target cardiac tissue area with the multiple frequency radiation simultaneously emitted from a plurality of emitter-receiver locations;
• e) receiving the radiation from the irradiated target cardiac tissue area with the radiation receiving means;
• f) analyzing the received radiation with the radiation analysis means to obtain observed tissue dielectric values and comparing the observed tissue dielectric values with the expected tissue dielectric values to determine the physiologic states of the tissue within the designated target tissue area;
• the analyzing and comparing step utilizing an .di-elect cons.* calculation which functions as a representative value of dielectric contrast between tissue regions or tissue physiologic states, where .di-elect cons.*=.di-elect cons.'+i.di-elect cons." and where .di-elect cons.' and .di-elect cons." are the values of measured dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss and i represents the imaginary number;
• and
• h) displaying a representation of the irradiated target cardiac tissue area on a display means so that different physiologic states of the tissue are recognizable.

A method of detecting the onset of biological tissue disease comprising the method of:

• a) designating a target tissue area for microwave irradiation;
• b) determining expected tissue dielectric values for the designated target tissue area;
• c) providing a multiple frequency microwave radiation emitting and receiving system having microwave emission means comprising a plurality of emitter-receiver locations, microwave receiving means comprising a plurality of emitter-receiver locations, and microwave analysis means;
• d) irradiating the target tissue area with the multiple frequency microwave radiation simultaneously emitted from a plurality of emitter-receiver locations;
• e) receiving the microwave radiation from the irradiated target tissue area with the microwave receiving means;
• f) analyzing the received microwave radiation with the microwave analysis means to obtain observed tissue dielectric values and comparing the observed tissue dielectric values for a desired range of frequencies best correlating to the target tissue with the expected tissue dielectric values to determine a change in the physiologic state of the target tissue indicative of an onset of tissue disease;
• the analyzing and comparing step including the step of solving the reverse problem to reconstruct tomographic biophysical images of the tissue based on the measured change of the radiation, and the reverse problem solution step comprising the steps of determining a functional formation component, calculating a derivative value of the functional formation component to create a gradient formation component useful for increasing the processing speed of the mathematical reconstruction calculations, calculating a minimization parameter tau, and performing an E* calculation.