Continuous monitoring of hemorrhagic strokes via differential microwave imaging

Continuous monitoring of a patient's brain who is admitted to intensive care with a diagnosis of hemorrhagic stroke poses a great technological challenge. Existing medical imaging modalities such as CT and MRI that are extensively used for brain imaging are practically not suitable for these purposes. Nevertheless, microwave imaging as an emerging medical imaging technique can provide a safer and cost-effective alternative for continuous monitoring of the brain. In this context, differential microwave imaging with qualitative inverse scattering methods such as linear sampling method and factorization method is considered to determine evolution of intracranial hemorrhage without generating anatomical images. Through sequential S-parameters measurements performed on a brain phantom with a prototype microwave imaging system that cylindrically rotates two transceiver antennas around, feasibility of continuous monitoring of hemorrhagic strokes via microwave imaging is experimentally evaluated.