Dielectric properties of breast tissues:

experimental results up to 50 GHz

S. Di Meo1, P. F. Espin-Lopez1, A. Martellosio1, M. Pasian1, M. Bozzi1, L. Perregrini1, A. Mazzanti1,
F. Svelto1, P. E. Summers2, G. Renne3, L. Preda4,5, and M. Bellomi2,6
1:Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
(e-mail: simona.dimeo01@ateneopv.it)
2: Department of Radiology, European Institute of Oncology, Milano, Italy
(email: paul.summers@ieo.it)
3: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, European Institute of Oncology, Milano, Italy
(email: giuseppe.renne@ieo.it)
4: Department of Clinical-Surgical, Diagnostic and Pediatric Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
(email: lorenzo.preda@unipv.it)
5: National Center of Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO Foundation), Pavia, Italy
6: Department of Oncology, University of Milano, Milano, Italy

Abstract—Nowadays, breast cancer is the most diffused
disease among women around the word. Statistics indicate an
increase in incident rate, especially in Europe, North America,
and Oceania. Currently, the set of diagnostic tools for breast
cancer detection is wide. Nevertheless, these tools exhibit
limitations, especially when aiming at cost-effective periodical
mass screenings. Therefore, there is a growing interest toward
microwave imaging systems for biomedical applications, and
several microwave prototypes have been proposed worldwide.
However, in order to have a satisfying resolution for early-
diagnosis, microwaves may be not sufficient, and a crucial point
is the utilization of higher frequencies. To this aim, as the
physical principle of all imaging techniques at these frequencies
is based on the detection of the dielectric discontinuities between
materials, the characterization of all breast tissues in the mm-
wave spectrum becomes fundamental. No experimental data
were available beyond 20 GHz before the two extensive
experimental campaigns performed at the European Institute of
Oncology in 2014 and 2016. In this paper, the results concerning
the full database (given by the fusion of the two datasets) of ex-
vivo samples, are presented. In particular, a huge amount of
data is considered, involving more than 330 samples, of which
237 healthy and 99 malignant, taken from around 100 women
with an age spanning from 28 years up to 85 years.
Index Terms—Dielectric characterization, ex-vivo samples,
mm-waves, imaging systems, breast cancer detection,
measurements.
I. INTRODUCTION
Breast cancer is the most diagnosed disease between
women in the world, and it is the first cause of death between
women for cancer [1], [2].
Nowadays, the range of diagnostic tools for breast cancer
detection is wide, and the most utilized are the X-ray
mammography and the Ultrasound. However, ionizing
radiations are involved in mammography and for this reason
it cannot be proposed in a mass screening program, as well as
it requires a fussy breast compression. In addition, X-rays are
unable to penetrate tissues with high percentage of water, and
this makes it worthless in dense breasts. On the other hand,
Ultrasound offers good possibilities in penetrating dense
breasts, but in a methodology too operator dependent, in
addition Ultrasound is not efficient in penetrating high density
breasts.
For all these reasons, microwave imaging techniques are
proposed. The advantages of using microwave frequencies are
several: the utilization of not-ionizing radiations, without the
need of breast compression, with a cheap instrumentation
(reflecting in low-cost tests for the patient).
Several prototypes have been proposed around the world
[3-7], however all of them share more or less the same
operational frequency of some gigahertz, therefore spoiling
the possibility of having a fine resolution [8], [9]. A not good
resolution, as it is simple to imagine, translates directly in a
not acceptable morphological reference.
A way to bypass this problem is the utilization of higher
frequencies, even if this translates is a lower penetration depth
in tissues. In particular, several studies have been performed
about an imaging system with a central working frequency of
30 GHz and a 20-GHz bandwidth, using a multi-static radar
architecture both for linear and conformal arrays (as they
correspond to the two possible positions of the woman during
the test). Results of this feasibility study have shown that in
almost 50% of the feminine population, the achievable
penetration depth is some centimeters below the skin and with
a resolution of some millimeters, using the Delay-And-Sum
(DAS) enhanced version, so the Filtered-Delay-Multiply-
And-Sum (F-DMAS) algorithm [10], [11].
All radar techniques are based on the different scattering
from healthy and cancerous tissues, as the tumor is
characterized by a high blood perfusion, so a higher water
content compared to normal tissues. This is a well accepted
knowledge, basing on fitted values taken from relatively low
frequencies measurements. Starting from 2014, in the
framework of a project funded by the Italian Association for
Cancer Research (Italian acronym, AIRC), two experimental
campaigns have been performed in the very wide frequency
rage [0.5-50] GHz, at the European Institute of Oncology, in
Milan [12], [13], [14]. Before these campaigns, no measured
data were available behind 20 GHz [15]-[16]. Both the
measurement sessions have confirmed the dielectric
differences between healthy tissues and cancerous ones, as
well as a higher separation between low density tissue and
malignant ones.
While in [12], results coming from the only first
experimental campaign (2014), involving more than 200 ex-
vivo tissues coming from around 50 women, were shown, and
in [14], results coming from the only second experimental
campaign (2016), involving 124 ex-vivo samples coming from
45 different patients, were reported; in this paper, results
coming from the merged database involving a huge amount of
experimental data are presented. Statistics have been
performed on more than 330 ex-vivo samples, healthy and
cancerous, taken from around 100 women of different age (28
to 85 years). Also Cole-Cole parameters have been derived for
breast tissues, and an estimate of the sensitivity and specificity
has been performed.
II. MEASUREMENT SETUP AND WORKFLOW
B. Workflow
All measurements for both experimental campaigns were
performed at the Pathology Department of the European
Institute of Oncology, in Milan. The workflow, shown in
Figure 3, was decided in collaboration with the medical staff.
In particular, after the surgical operation (eg. lumpectomy,
quadrantectomy, and mastectomy), and the transportation in a
specimen bag of the removed breast, the sample was prepared
by a pathologist to be measured by the engineer, and the
sample dimension was some mm3. Depending on the
dimension of each sample, the number of different dielectric
measurements was variable, and to distinguish each side
different acrylic inks were used. After these steps, the
dichotomy features of each area marked with inks (healthy,
with the relative adipose content, versus cancerous tissues)
were defined by a pathologist. The pathological description of
the nature of the sample was included in the database together
with the electromagnetic response. These medical responses
were used as benchmark both to assess the capability of
dielectric properties to distinguish normal tissues form
malignant ones, and for the analysis of sensitivity and
specificity, as it will be explained in Section IV.

A. Measurement setup
For both experimental campaigns, the measurement setup
was the same. In particular, the open-ended coaxial probe has
been used as dielectric spectroscopy technique. The whole
measurement setup was constituted by a Keysight E8361C
Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), a high-performance
flexible coaxial cable (provided with the Keysight 85070E
Dielectric Probe Kit), a mechanical mover, and the open-
ended coaxial probe (Keysight 85070E Dielectric Probe Kit)
able to perform suitable measurement in a wide frequency
range ([0.5-50] GHz) and temperature one (from -40° up to
220°). Figure 1 represent the measurement setup.
In this way, dielectric properties of the Material Under Fig. 1 Measurement setup used for both experimental campaigns
Test (MUT) are measured by means of a reflectometry-based
approach. The involved coaxial probe is characterized by a
small footprint; the diameters of inner and outer conductors
are very small, 0.268mm and 1.6mm, respectively. They
generate a quasi-static capacitor-like field, and the sensing
volume of the probe is around the diameter in later direction,
with a 2-mm penetration depth in all kind of tissues for all the
investigated frequencies. A sketch of the field is shown in
Figure 2.
An important precaution adopted for each measurement
was the air-presence removal between the coaxial probe head
and the MUT. Therefore, a small and controlled pressure (by
means of the mechanical mover) was applied.
In addition, to remove spurious errors from the collected
data, the coaxial probe was calibrated before each Fig. 2 Sketch of the probe penetration depth
measurement by means of three standards: open ended, short
termination, and deionized water at a controlled temperature.
After the calibration, no movements of the probe were
possible, in order to provide phase stability, especially at high
frequencies.
 imaginary part of the dielectric permittivity between the
measured and the fitted data for the average malignant tissues,
as it is representative of all situations.

Fig. 3 Clinical protocol for both experimental campaigns

Also the temperature and the time between the excision

and the measurement were controlled, to avoid alterations in
measurements due to these external conditions. In particular,
the temperature of each sample was measured using a
contact-less infrared thermometer (all samples were kept at Fig. 4 Characterization of the real part of the relative dielectric
around 21°, the room temperature), and the time between the permittivity for normal (blue line) and malignant (red line) tissues. The shaded
excision and the measurement didn’t exceed 3 hours and 30 region denotes the variable range at ± 1 ı
minutes, to avoid the superficial water evaporation of the
sample.

III. DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES

OF BREAST CANCER T ISSUES
Dielectric properties of measured samples were collected
in terms of real and imaginary part. Results considering all
kind of healthy tissues and tumorous ones, derived from the
fusion of the two experimental campaigns, are shown in Figs.
4 and 5.
Fig. 5 Characterization of the imaginary part of the relative dielectric
A. Comparison between different types of normal tissues permittivity for normal (blue line) and malignant (red line) tissues. The shaded
and malignant tissues region denotes the variable range at ± 1 ı
In addition, a classification between healthy samples has
been performed. In particular, healthy tissues have been
classified with respect to their decreasing water content, in
high (adipose content lower than 20%), medium (adipose
content between 20 and 80%), and low density (adipose
content greater than 80%), and all of them have been
compared with the dielectric properties of cancerous tissues.
Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 show the comparison in dielectric
properties for real and imaginary part, respectively.

IV. COLE-COLE MODELS

The model used in this paper to represent the frequency- Fig. 6 Differences between the real part of the average relative dielectric
dependent complex relative permittivity İ of the tissues is the permittivity for healthy and cancerous tissues.
single-pole Cole-Cole model, a commonly accepted standard:
ǻİ ɐ•
İ(Ȧ) =İ'(Ȧ)-jİ''(Ȧ)=İ’+ +  (1)
1-(jȦIJ)1-Į ŒɘɂͲ
where İ' and İ'' are the frequency-dependent real and
imaginary part of the dielectric permittivity, and İ’, ǻİ, IJ, Į
and ıs are the Cole-Cole parameters. These parameters were
computed using the least-square fitting to the average values
of the measured dielectric properties.
Results are summarized in Table I for the average values
of healthy and tumorous tissues, taking into account the
difference in density between tissues, and an optimum
agreement is achievable in all frequency band both for real and Fig. 7 Differences between the imaginary part of the average relative
imaginary part. Fig. 8 shows the comparison in real and dielectric permittivity for healthy and cancerous tissues.
 V. SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY
The two parameters used in medical field to assess the
quality of a diagnostic tool are the Sensitivity and the
Specificity. In particular, Sensitivity is related to the True
Positive (TP) rate, so sick people who are correctly classified
as sick, while Specificity is related on True Negative (TN) rate,
so healthy people who are correctly identified as healthy. A
diagnostic method, indeed, could also identify as sick an
healthy patient, so defining the so called False Positive (FP),
or vice versa, increasing the named False Negative (FN) rate.
Fig. 8 Comparison in real (red lines) and imaginary (blue lines) part Sensitivity and Specificity are defined as follows:
between the measured (continuous line) and fitted (dotted line) data for the
average malignant tissues. Tp
Sensitivity = (2)
Tp+Fn


Specificity = (3)
൅ ’

Fig. 9 reports the values of Sensitivity and Specificity for

the whole database. Results are compared also with the typical
values of Sensitivity and Specificity of the actual X-ray
mammography, in Table II.
As it can be seen, a good agreement exists between them,
(a)
and this is a promising result even if the authors of this paper
are conscious that the comparison is between an actual
diagnostic tool and an ex-vivo characterization.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the dielectric characterization of human
breast tissues up to 50 GHz on a huge database is presented.
This is the fusion of two datasets (achieved during two
expensive experimental campaign performed at the European
Institute of Oncology in Milan, in 2014 [12] and 2016 [14]
respectively), and includes more than 330 ex-vivo samples,
(b) derived from around 100 women of all ages. This fusion is a
Fig. 9 Sensitivity and Specificity calculated for real (a) and imaginary (b) part direct consequence of the good agreement in results obtained
of the relative dielectric permittivity. in the two separate experimental campaigns [12], [13], [14].
Results show that there is a higher variability in dielectric
TABLE I. COLE-COLE PARAMETERS DERIVED FOR NORMAL AND
properties of healthy tissues compared to malignant ones, and
MALIGNANT TISSUES. this is due to the different adipose percentage constituting
them. However, dielectric properties are significantly
Normal Malignant
Low Medium High
different, both for real and imaginary part, in all the
density density density investigated frequency range, reinforcing the idea of building
ǻİ 9,08 24,83 39,2 48,4 an imaging system on them.
İ’ 3,6 4,6 5,089 4,9
IJ(ps) 17 11 9,58 9 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Į 0,19 0,14 0,1 0.09 The authors would like to thank all the medical staff of the
ıs 0,16 0,45 0,7 0.8 European Institute of Oncology in Milan for their help during
the work. This work was partially supported by the Italian
TABLE II. COMPARISON BETWEEN SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY OF Association for Cancer Research (AIRC).
MAMMOGRAPHY AND THE DIELECTRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF EX-VIVO
BREAST TISSUES.

Diagnostic test Sensitivity Specificity

Mammography 75 85

Present work 86 72
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