**4. Conclusions**

472 Advances in Cancer Therapy

radiometer is about 1 dB, one degree change in the environment temperature will lead to brightness temperature change in 0.4 degree. This is why the radiometer input circuits temperature is usually stabilized. But this is not feasible for the wearable self-powered detection system because of the power demand. For balanced radiometer it is possible to optimize parameters of input circuit including Multi-Channel Switch and the reference noise source circuit to minimize error due to environment temperature changes. However, if the losses of microwave part of radiometer do not change in time, the error due to environment temperature change can be compensated. For this purpose it is necessary to measure the frontend temperature. This principle was successfully used in industrial single-channel radiometer (RTM-01-RES) and can be applied to the multi-channel radiometer. For this purpose it is important to measure antenna array temperature and to transmit this information to the radiometer. Software is a need for visualisation of the results of the measurements and the database storage in the control centre. It is vital that radiometer should monitor the function of its various components appropriately, estimate the measurement error and transmit this information to the central database by wireless connection. This allows the estimation of the radiometer's accuracy automatically. Fabrication of the breast cancer microwave screening

Microwave thermometry is the detection of microwave radiation from the human body and may be considered as the microwave equivalent of infrared thermography. Infrared thermography typically uses wavelengths of 10 µmetre, whereas in microwave thermometry much longer wavelengths are employed (1 -20 cm). The other major differences between the

 Microwave radiation is capable of penetrating human tissue and therefore the emissions can provide useful thermal signals related to the subcutaneous conditions within the body. On the other hand, infrared radiation is not able to penetrate such

 Microwave emission gives coarser spatial resolution (~ 1cm) than infrared because of its longer wavelength than infrared (~1mm). This supposes that microwave thermography provides information about internal body temperatures. The depth of penetration, and hence the depth from which microwave radiation may escape from the body, depends on the wavelength, the dielectric properties of the tissue, and, most importantly, on the

Development of a wearable, self-powered early warning system for breast cancer will also require the production of textile structures that are flexible, comfortable, breathable, light and suitable for integration with the materials developed to perform various functions to operate the cancer detecting devices produced. Conducting fibres and filaments are needed to produce fabrics using a range of mechanical conversion methods, particularly knitting, crochet or braiding to produce the developmental materials. The structures then need to be characterised and optimised. Conducting fabrics can also be prepared using chemical methods, including coating, printing and lamination. Wet chemical methods and dry methods can be employed for this purpose. The integrated textile structures must be tested for their efficiency, durability, launderability, mechanical and comfort properties. Finally, the integrated textiles need to be

depths and therefore is able to detect conditions close to the surface i.e. skin. The intensity of microwave emission is linearly proportional to the temperature of the emitter. Therefore a measurement of the emission may be easily related to the temperature of the emitter. Infrared intensity measurements may also be related to the

body temperature but this relationship is somewhat nonlinear.

converted into wearable structures to act as cancer detection devices.

system also requires the development of the hardware for the system.

two modalities can be summarised as following:

water content of the tissue.

At present x-ray mammography is the most commonly used breast imaging technique and is the only modality used for routine screening. X-ray mammography has become the "gold standard" for breast imaging. The technique has a high sensitivity and is able to detect very small tumours and calcifications. The main limitations of x-ray mammography are that it has a poor specificity for some tumour types and that it is unsuitable for use on women with dense breasts. In addition, x-ray mammography uses ionising radiation and usually causes considerable discomfort to the patient. Thus there is potential for an alternative technique to replace x-ray mammography or to be used as an additional resource to improve the overall specificity of the diagnosis. As discussed MRI, ultrasound and Nuclear medicine are currently used to provide additional diagnostic information, but all have their limitations and are not alternatives to mammography. Other techniques are currently being investigated such as EIT and infrared thermography but as yet these have severe limitations in resolution and specificity. Thus there still remains a niche for an additional imaging modality to aid in the early detection and diagnosis of breast tissue oncological abnormalities.

Microwave radiometry (MRT) appears to be an attractive alternative modality for breast imaging. MRT can be used effectively in breast cancer investigation. The method has many advantages over the currently used breast cancer detection techniques:


The MRT can be used repeatedly to improve cancer detection rates and monitor the progress of cancer treatment. Using microwave radiometry in conjunction with other traditional modalities can significantly improve the diagnosis, especially for the patients with fast growing tumours. Studies show that breast thermometry has the ability to warn a woman that a cancer may be forming many years before any other test can detect the condition. The major gaps in knowledge can be addressed by more robust research on the technologically advanced microwave thermometry devices and large-scale, prospective randomised trials for population screening and diagnostic testing of breast cancer. The MRT system components can be miniaturised and integrated with textiles to produce wearable early warning systems for breast cancer.
