Imaging of pulmonary edema with microwaves — Preliminary investigation

We consider microwave imaging of pulmonary edema which is a critical medical condition which manifests itself as a water accumulation in the human lungs. In order to detect water accumulation in the human lungs, we implement a microwave inversion scheme based on Born iterative method (BIM). To that end, a realistic human torso phantom is used and dielectric parameters of tissues and organs are estimated via Cole-Cole model at desired frequency. Then, scattered electric field is calculated synthetically by method of moments. Simulations are performed at 350 MHz and the region between phantom and antennas are surrounded by a dielectric material with a permittivity of 30. In the numerical results section, performance assessment of BIM is carried for two cases. The numerical results suggest that the BIM is capable of imaging water accumulation in the human lungs.