Microwave Imaging for Brain Stroke Monitoring

The capability of microwaves to penetrate an object as interact differently with each of its elements, allows Microwave Imaging (MWI) technologies to be used in a myriad of fields and applications to "see-through" an object in a non-invasive approach. For instance, in the biomedical field, the scattered signals from cancer lesions, blood accumulation, and bio-tissues (all considered dielectric objects) contain the information required by imaging of the specific context. In the case of the open medical issue of brain stroke monitoring after onset, MWI provides clinicians with a complementary alternative to the well-establish imaging-based techniques of support of diagnosis and treatment follow-up. An example of a novel low-complexity-architecture MWI prototype with an optimized number of antennas and adequate positioning on a helmet is presented below. It exploits a differential imaging approach and provides 3D images of the stroke.