A Millimeter-Wave Thermograph for Human Breast and Spine Scans

Abstract

Millimeter-wave thermographs for remote, noninvasive temperature sensing of the human body are described. Their penetration depth ranges from 0.1 mm to 1 cm thus overcoming the depth limitations of conventional infrared thermographs by several orders of magnitude. Potentially useful applications of this new method include clinical studies of the injured human spine and early detection of subcutaneous tumors such as breast cancer. Design details of an optimized, beam- or load switched thermograph for 69.5 GHz are presented which is presently undergoing clinical tests. It exhibits a temperature resolution of 0.25 °c for an integration time of 1 sec.