Towards a Microwave Imaging Device for Cerebrovascular Diseases Monitoring: from Numerical Modeling to Experimental Testing

This chapter presents the design, realization, and validation of a full-fledged device for imaging-based detection and monitoring of cerebrovascular diseases via microwave technology. The designed system is a compact and low-complexity prototype with a wearable twenty-two-element antenna array able to perform continuous real-time follow-up of a brain stroke evolution. The imaging algorithm exploits a differential scheme that receives the scattering matrices collected at two different instants and reconstructs tridimensional images relying on the distorted Born approximation. Furthermore, it employs the singular value decomposition of the discretized scattering operator computed via full-wave simulations of high-realistic models and an EM solver based on an in-house finite element method. The system is numerically and experimentally tested on post-onset scenarios, showing the capability to localize and monitor the progression of hemorrhage and ischemia zones with centimetric spatial resolution. Moreover, it details the manufacturing of the custom radiating elements and the human-like head and non-static stroke testing phantoms used during the experimental testing.