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US 7,266,407 B2Granted
Multi-frequency microwave-induced thermoacoustic imaging of biological tissue
AssigneeUniversity of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsJian Li, Gang Wang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for examining biological tissue includes the steps of radiating a tissue region with a plurality of microwave radiation pulses. The microwave pulses are swept across a range of microwave frequencies. In response to the swept frequency microwave pulses, the tissue region emits a plurality of thermoacoustic signals. At least one image of the tissue region is formed from the plurality of thermoacoustic signals. The signals can be ultrawideband signals.
Claims14
A method of examining biological tissue, comprising the steps of:
- radiating a tissue region with a plurality of microwave radiation pulses, said plurality of radiation pulses spanning a range of microwave frequencies of at least 600 MHz, wherein said tissue region emits a plurality of thermoacoustic signals responsive to said plurality of microwave pulses, and
- forming at least one image of said tissue region from said plurality of thermoacoustic signals,
- wherein said step of forming at least one image comprises adaptive beamforming.
A system for examining biological tissue, comprising:
- a microwave radiation source for radiating a tissue region with a plurality of microwave radiation pulses, said plurality of radiation pulses spanning a range of microwave frequencies of at least 600 MHz, wherein said tissue region emits a plurality of thermoacoustic signals responsive to said microwave pulses;
- an acoustic transducer array for receiving said thermoacoustic signals, said transducer array providing electrical signals in response thereto, and
- an imager comprising a signal processor having an executable adaptive beamforming algorithm,
- said algorithm forming at least one image of said tissue region from said electrical signals.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.