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Breast cancer detection, imaging and screening by electromagnetic millimeter waves

  • US 5,807,257 A
  • Filed: 04/17/1997
  • Issued: 09/15/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/01/1994
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method to detect the presence of a tumor or an incipient tumor in the tissue of a living organism, such as in the tissue of a human breast, in which non-tumor tissue has a predetermined dielectric characteristic different from the corresponding dielectric characteristic of a tumor, the method comprising the following steps:

  • A. generating a non-ionizing electromagnetic input wave of preselected frequency having a large bandwidth;

    B. illuminating the tissue of a living organism with the input wave of step A, effectively focused into a beam impinging upon a first small, discrete volume at a predetermined illumination position within the tissue to develop a non-ionizing electromagnetic wave at that illumination position;

    C. moving the illumination position of step B over a preselected portion of the tissue in a predetermined scanning pattern;

    D. collecting scattered returns from the tissue while it is being scanned in step C to develop a scattered return signal; and

    E. processing the scattered return signal of step D to detect any anomaly in that signal indicative of the presence of a tumor in the scanned tissue.

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