IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 35, NO.
4, APRIL 1988 257
Dielectric Properties of Breast Carcinoma and the
Surrounding Tissues
ANDRZEJ J. SUROWIEC, STANISLAW S. STUCHLY, SENIOR
AND ARVIND SWARUP
Abstract-Relative permittivity of infiltrating breast carcinoma and
the surrounding tissue was measured. The experiments were per-
formed at frequencies from 20 kHz to 100 MHz at 37°C using an au-
tomatic network analyzer and an end-of-the-line capacitive sensor.
Cole-Cole dielectric parameters were calculated by curve Btting using
a computer program. Three main categories of tissues were consid-
ered: the central part of the tumor, the tumor surrounding tissue, and
the peripheral tissue. Within each category, large spread of the dielec-
tric data for different specimens suggest structural and cellular inho-
mogeneitiesof the tumor tissue. However, certain consistency has been
found in the dielectric relaxation time and the coefIieient of the distri-
bution of the relaxation time within each category. The results seem to
indicate that the radio frequency impedance imaging can potentially
be used as a diagnostic modality for the detection of human breast
carcinoma.
I. INTRODUCTION
T HE dielectric properties of tumor tissues have been of
interest for several reasons. The dielectric data are
needed in the radio frequency induced hyperthermia as a
modality in cancer treatment as well as in developing the
inhomogenous models simulating the electrical properties
of the organs with the lesions. Another potential appli-
cation includes radio frequency imaging [11. Besides di-
rect utilizations of the dielectric data as indicated above,
investigations of the biophysical mechanisms of interac-
tions of radio frequency fields with tumor tissues may
provide some information related to the function-struc-
ture relationship during the development of the neo-
plasms.
At radio frequencies, the dielectric properties of bio-
logical matter are basically determined by the charging of
the cell membrane through a combined impedance of the
intra- and extracellular media. They also depend on the
chemical composition of the tissue [2].
Electrical properties of malignant breast tumors have
been investigated by Fricke and Morse [3]. They found
significantly higher permittivity of the tumor tissue at 20
Manuscript received October 29, 1986; revised May 22, 1987. This work
was supported by grants from the Ontario Ministry of Labor and the Na-
tural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada.
A. Surowiec is with the Department of Experimental Radiation Oncol-
ogy, Bowman Grey School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.
S. S. Stuchly is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Univer-
sity of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont., Canada.
J. R. Barr is with the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Cancer
Clinic, University of Ottawa, Ottawa Civic Hospital, Ottawa, Ont., Can-
ada.
A. Swarup is with Bolriet Technology Inc., Ottawa, Ont., Canada.
IEEE Log Number 87 18986.
0018-9294/88/0400-0257$01.OO 0 1988 IEEE
Authorized licensed use limited to: K J Somaiya College of Engineering - MUMBAI. Downloaded on September 17,2021 at 19:18:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
MEMBER, IEEE, J. ROBIN BARR,
kHz as compared to the normal or nonmalignant tissues.
England and Sharples [4] and England [5] examined sev-
eral samples of breast carcinoma at 10 GHz. Based on
England et al. [4] and England [5] results, Malard et al.
[6] postulated a possibility of using microwave transmis-
sion measurements for tumor detection.
Roberts et al. [7] observed a fourfold increase of the
dielectric constant and the loss factor of normal breast tis-
sue and fatty mammary tissues fibrosed by X-rays. Simi-
lar results have been reported by Singh et al. [8] for nor-
mal breast tissue and breast tissue containing malignant
tumors obtained in vivo at low radio frequencies (below
10 kHz). Recently, Chaudhary et al. [9] studied dielectric
properties of breast carcinoma and normal tissues at fre-
quencies from 3 MHz to 3 GHz using frequency and time
domain dielectric spectroscopy.
We are not aware of any other studies of the dielectric
properties of breast carcinoma at radio frequencies. Also,
no dielectric measurements have been reported of breast
carcinoma and the adjacent tissues, i.e., when samples
are taken from various parts of the tumor and from the
surrounding nonmalignant tissues.
In this study, we present data on dielectric properties
of infiltrating breast carcinoma and the surrounding tis-
sues in the frequency range from 20 kHz to 100 MHz.
11. MATERIALMETHODS
A. Tumor Specimens
Tumor specimens from seven different patients used in
this study of an exact known history and diagnosis were
obtained from excisional surgical procedure performed in
the Ottawa Civic Hospital. From each specimen, depend-
ing of its size, 2-6 samples in form of thin disks (6 mm
in diameter and 1 mm thick) were excised. The total num-
ber of samples investigated in this study was 28. Sample
preparation procedures have been presented elsewhere,
e.g., Surowiec et al. [lo]. Since the measurements were
performed at 37"C, the end-of-the-line sample holder was
modified in order to minimize heat losses from the sam-
ple, see Fig. 1 . All measurements were completed within
4 h following the surgery. The water contentof the sam-
ples from different locations in the specimen varied from
80 to 85 percent. Histological analysis of the samples
showed an infiltrating ductal carcinoma with a focal pap-
illary component or a lobular carcinoma. Dash-dot-dash
lines in Fig. 2 (A-G) describe the visible boundary of the
 258 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 35. NO. 4, APRIL 1988

Water Bath
A ----1
1T
20

n - , - - N
Pt black electrodes 1TUMOR

Thin mylar tube Glass cyllnder 25 _I

20

Plastlc cylinder
(cortodwith 8 thin maCa Rlm)

Coaxial
Connector
1
Fig. 1. Modified end-of-line coaxial sensor for measurements at temper-
atures different from m m temperature. A metal-coated glass cylinder in
the center conductor and a metal-coated plastic cylinder in the outer con-
ductor form a heat bamer and allow us to maintain samples at temper- C
atures different from the ambient temperature (temperature of the con-
nector). i A

tumor tissue. In some specimens, the tumor formed a hard

core of different density and size.
B. Dielectric Measurements
Dielectric properties of the samples were determined by
measuring the input reflection coefficient of the sample
holder using an automatic network analyzer HP 3577 con-
trolled by an IBM PC computer. For each sample, the 1 25 I
measurements repeated 10-15 times at 101 discrete fre-
quencies evenly distributed in the logarithmic scale in fre-
quency. D
The results at each frequency were averaged. The es-
timated measurement uncertainties were less than 2 per-
cent and 1 percent in the dielectric constant and conduc-
tivity, respectively. In order to minimize the electrode
polarization effect, platinum black electrodes and a sub-
/
stitution technique developed by Schwan [111 were used.
In this technique, the tissue was replaced by a saline so-
lution of the same conductivity and its dielectric proper-
ties were determined at low frequencies. Error correcting
coefficients, obtained by comparing the measured values '10.3-
to the true values of the saline solution, were used to cor-
rect the measured data of the tissues at frequencies below
/
35 2
Fig. 2. The location of the tissue samples excised from the specimens of
100 W Z .
breast carcinoma. Each sample consists of a disk of 6.2 mm in diameter
and 0.8 mm thick, the two numbers indicate: the upper right comer the
111. RESULTSAND DISCUSSION dielectric constants at 100 kHz and 100 MHz, respectively, while the
Fig. 2 shows typical specimens obtained from surgical numbers in the lower left comer indicate conductivities (bold) at the same
frequencies. Specimen's dimensions are in millimeters; thickness 3 and
procedures with cylindrical regions corresponding to the 5 mm. Dash-dot-dash lines describe the visible boundary of the tumor
measured samples. In each region, the numbers indicate: tissue.

Authorized licensed use limited to: K J Somaiya College of Engineering - MUMBAI. Downloaded on September 17,2021 at 19:18:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 SUROWIEC et al.: PROPERTIES OF BREAST CARCINOMA AND SURROUNDING TISSUES 259

E
20 >

n
E
0
\
cn
W
E

>-
t
H

>
H

t-
o
3
0
Z

t
0
o

Fig. 3. Dielectric constant of breast carcinoma as a function of frequency.

(*) sample Al, central part of tumor, ( + ) sample A3, tissue surrounding
the tumor ( 0 ) sample C1, mainly fatty tissue containing infiltrating tu-
20
mor cells, ( x ) peripheral sample (G3) located relatively far from central
part of tumor, ( v ) normal (control) breast tissue.

10
'1
10-2 10-1 10 O 10 10
FREQUENCY (MHz)
Fig. 4. Conductivity of breast carcinoma as a function of frequency. ( * )
sample A l , central part of tumor, ( + ) sample A3, tissue surrounding the
tumor, ( 0 ) sample C1, mainly adipose tissue containing infiltrating tu-
L 20 J mor cells, ( x ) peripheral sample ( G 3 ) located approximately 25 mm
Fig. 2. (Continued.) from central part of tumor, ( v ) normal (control) breast tissue.

the upper right comer, the dielectric constants at 100 kHz
and 100 MHz, and the lower left comer corresponding
values of the conductivities.
Surgical pathology reported the following diagnoses:
A-infiltrating ductal carcinoma without metastases, B-
infiltrating ductal carcinoma, C-infiltrating ductal car-
cinoma with focal papillary component, D-infiltrating
carcinoma consistent with lobular carcinoma, E-infil-
trating lobular carcinoma, F-infiltrating ductal carci-
noma, G-infiltrating lobular carcinoma.
The dielectric constants and conductivities for a few
typical samples are given, as a function of frequency, in
Figs. 3 and 4, respectively.
Our experimental data suggest three types of breast car-
cinoma. It should be pointed out, however, that within
one type one may find samples with widely different prop-

Authorized licensed use limited to: K J Somaiya College of Engineering - MUMBAI. Downloaded on September 17,2021 at 19:18:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 260 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 35, NO. 4, APRIL 1988

Fig. 5 . Microscopic view of normal breast tissue and of breast carcinoma:

(a) normal tissue, (b) infiltrating lobular carcinoma, sample E 3 (see lo-
cation, Fig. 2), (c) infiltrating ductal carcinoma, sample F2 (see loca-
tion, Fig. 2), (d) edge of infiltrating ductal carcinoma, sample C1 (see
location, Fig. 2). Tumor cells are seen in the upper part of the specimen.
Also a few tumor cells can be found in the lower part. In the central part,
mostly normal fat cells are observed.

erties probably reflecting various stages of the tumor de-
velopment. Thus, the determination of the boundaries be-
tween different types of times is difficult because of a high
degree of structural heterogeneity.
The first type is representative of the bulk of the tumor
and consists of collagen, elastic fibers, and many tumor
cells. The latter are aggregated into groups, acini and
sometimes single cells in a line or column. In these areas,
the malignant cells form the bulk of the specimen, see
Fig. 2 , (e.g.; samples A l , B1, C3, E2, F1, F 2 ) . These
samples have low-frequency conductivities between 2 and
4 mS/cm, with dielectric constants at 100 kHz ranging
from 2 x lo3 to 6 x lo3. The conductivity increments
(the difference between the conductivities at 100 kHz and
100 MHz) are between 4-5 ms/cm for these samples.
The second type of sample has been taken from the in-
filtrating margins of the tumor near the edge of the lesion.
Here, there are fewer tumor cells and a larger proportion
of normally distributed collagen and fat from the sur-
rounding unaffected breast tissue, (see Fig. 2 , samples A3,
A4, B2,03, E 3 , G4,G5,G6).The samples taken from
regions surrounding the center of the tumor are also char-
acterized by a broad range of ‘dielectric constant ranging
from 2.5 X lo3 to 8 X lo3 at 100 kHz. Also the range of
conductivity increments is higher (5-7 ms /cm).
The third type of sample was taken from the periphery,
in other words, from the normal breast tissue distant by
approximately 2 cm from the tumor. This is composed of
normal connective tissue and portions of normal glandular
tissue, see, for example, samples E l , F 3 , G1, G 2 in Fig.
2 . The dielectric properties of these samples differ signif-
icantly from the other two categories of tissues. Their di-
electric constant is usually less than 500 at 100 kHz, their
low-frequency conductivity is below 1 mS /cm and their
conductivity increments are two orders of magnitude
smaller than for the two previous tissue categories. The

Authorized licensed use limited to: K J Somaiya College of Engineering - MUMBAI. Downloaded on September 17,2021 at 19:18:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 SUROWIEC et al.: PROPERTIES OF BREAST CARCINOMA AND SURROUNDING TISSUES 261

!d)
Fig. 5. (Continued)

dielectric properties of these “normal” tissues are similar
to those obtained for adipose tissue by Foster et al. [12].
In some specimens, see Fig. 2, samples C1,04, El, G3,
which represent an intermediate stage of tissue, i.e., be-
tween normal tissue and the second type of tumor sample,
much higher values of the permittivity were observed.
This can be attributed to some tumor cell infiltration pres-
ent in these samples, seen for example in Fig. 5(d), that
may contribute significantly to the increase of the dielec-
tric constant. These differences can potentially be used for
early detection of breast carcinoma. In order to perform
further analysis of the experimental data, the dielectric
parameters for all samples were calculated using a com-
puter program called STEPIT’ [101, [131, [141 by fitting
the data to the Cole-Cole equations [2]. The computed
parameters are shown in Table I.
From the previous discussion, one may expect that the
computed dielectric parameters for the Cole-Cole model
‘Indiana University Computer Program Exchange, Department of
Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington IN (D. Chandler, author).
should also reflect the structural differences among sam-
ples taken from different parts of the tumor. The tissue
samples from the tumor core have average dielectric re-
laxation times ( 7 ) between 0.6 and 1.4 ps and static di-
electric constants from 5 x lo3to 9 x io3.~n most cases,
the relaxation time of tissues that surround the tumor is
considerably shorter (approximately 0.3 ps). The static
dielectric constant ranged from 3 X lo3 to 5.5 x lo3 for
the tissues with shorter relaxation time and from 5 X lo3
to lo3 for the tissue with the longer relaxation time, see
Table I. For both categories of tissue samples (central and
surrounding), a broad distribution of relaxation times
[represented by (a)]was observed, see Table I. Fatty tis-
sues or normal tissues with less tumor involvement (sam-
ples F3, G1, and G2) showed narrower distribution of
relaxation times, as indicated by lower values of a.
Our measurements revealed significant differences in
dielectric properties between samples taken from different
locations. These differences can be associated with the
cellular heterogeneity and structural differences of the
tested samples.

Authorized licensed use limited to: K J Somaiya College of Engineering - MUMBAI. Downloaded on September 17,2021 at 19:18:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 262 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 35, NO. 4, APRIL 1988

TABLE I
COMPUTER FITTEDDIELECTRIC
PARAMETERS OF BREAST
CARCINOMA AND THE SURROUNDING TISSUES
IN THE FREQUENCY
RANGE
FROM 100 kHz
TO 100 MHz

Dielectric Parameters

Specimen Sample 7 uDC

Location No. 6s cor (P) (Y (ms /cm) Diagnosis

1 6090 50 0.633 0.326 2.20 Infiltrating

2 8260 50 0.595 0.311 3.03 ductal
3 3720 50 0.267 0.283 6.47 carcinoma
4 5170 50 0.288 0.239 6.91 metastases
5 3440 50 0.238 0.238 7.12
6 5710 50 0.263 0.277 6.60
1 3330 50 1.30 0.380 3.3 Infiltrating
2 55 10 30 0.33 0.250 5.70 ductal
carcinoma
1 793 20 0.579 0.232 0.82 Infiltrating
2 482 30 0.603 0.281 0.38 ductal
3 3310 30 0.557 0.310 3.05 carcinoma
1 2740 30 0.269 0.358 3.89 Infiltrating
2 3285 30 0.3202 0.275 5.75 lobular
3 2320 30 0.259 0.278 6.49 carcinoma
4 1253 319 0.670 0.400 3.52
1 3125 167 0.525 0.223 1.02 Infiltrating
2 7060 30 1.605 0.362 4.99 lobular
3 13100 30 1.396 0:349 6.59 carcinoma
4 3080 50 0.45 0.298 3.90
1 8830 30 1.408 0.360 2.78 Infiltrating
2 10170 30 1.210 0.340 2.73 ductal
3 180 10 0.684 0.149 0.120 carcinoma
I 288 10 0.983 0.10 0.161 Infiltrating
2 298 10 1.008 0.075 0.130 lobular
3 675 10 1.391 0.163 0.444 carcinoma
4 7930 50 1.216 0.367 5.33
5 5490 50 0.768 0.379 4.15
6 8660 50 1.415 0.331 5.16

REFERENCES Techniques in Biological Research, W. L. Nastuk Ed. New York:

[l] B. D. Sollish, E. H. Frei, E. Hammerman, S. B. Lang, and M. Mo-
shitzky, “Microprocesser-assisted screening techniques,” Israel J .
Med. Sci., vol. 17, pp. 859-864, 1981.
[2] K. R. Foster and H. P, Schwan, “Dielectric properties of tissues,”
in CRC Handbook of Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields,
Polk and E. Postow Eds. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1986.
[3] H. Fricke and S. Morse, “The electric capacity of tumors of the
breast,” J. Cancer Res., vol. 16, pp. 310-376, 1926.
[4] T. S. England and N. A. Sharples, “Dielectric properties of the hu-
man body in the microwave region of the spectrum,” Nature, vol.
163, pp. 487-488, 1949.
[5] T. S. England, “Dielectric properties of the human body for wave
lengths in the 1-10 cm range,” Nature, vol. 166, pp. 480-481, 1950.
[6] J. R. Mallard and D. G. Lawn, “Dielectric absorption of microwaves
in human tissues,” Nature, vol. 213, pp. 28-30, 1967.
[7] J. E. Roberts and H. F. Cook, “Microwaves in medical and biolog-
ical research,” Brit. J . Appl. Phys., vol. 3, pp. 33-40, 1952.
[8] A. Singh, C. W. Smith, and R. Hughes, “In vivo dielectric spec-
trometer,” Med. Biol. Eng. Comput., vol. 17, pp. 45-60, 1979.
[9] S. S. Chaudhary, R. K. Mishra, A. Swarup, and J. M. Thomas,
“Dielectric properties of normal and malignant human breast tissue
at radiowave and microwaves frequencies,” Indian J . Biochem. Bio-
phys., vol. 21, pp. 76-79, 1983.
[lo] A. Surowiec, S. S. Stuchly, and A. Swarup, “Radiofrequency di-
electric properties of animal tissues as a function of time following
death,” Phys. Med. Biol., vol. 30, pp. 1131-1141, 1985.
[ 111 H. P. Schwan, Determination of Biological Impedances in Physical
Academic, 1963, pp. 327-407.
[12] S. R. Smith and K. R. Foster, “Dielectric properties of low-water
content tissues,” Phys. Med. Biol., vol. 30, pp. 965-973, 1985.
[13] R. D. Stoy, K. R. Foster, and H. P. Schwan, “Dielectric properties
of mammalian tissues from 0.1 to 100 MHz: A summary of recent
data,” Phys. Med. Biol., vol. 27, pp. 501-513, 1982.
[14] A. Surowiec, S. S. Stuchly, and C. Izaguim, “Dielectric properties
of human B and T lymphocytes at frequencies from 20 KHz to 100
MHz,” Phys. Med. Biol., vol. 31, pp. 43-53, 1986.
Andrzej J. Surowiec was born in Lwow, Poland
in 1942. He received the M.Sc. degree in electri-
cal engineering from the Technical University,
Gliwice, Poland in 1964 and the Ph.D. degree in
physics from Silesian University, Katowice, Po-
land, in 1972.
From 1964 to 1973 he was on the staff of the
Silesian Academy of Medicine in the Department
of Medical Physics and Biophysics. In 1972 he
became an Associate Professor in the Academy’s
Department of Biophysics. He was engaged in
teaching and researeh in electrical and optical properties of DNA and de-
sign of electronic systems for electrophysiological studies. From 1973 to
1974 he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in molecular biology at the Centre

Authorized licensed use limited to: K J Somaiya College of Engineering - MUMBAI. Downloaded on September 17,2021 at 19:18:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 SUROWIEC et al.: PROPERTIES OF BREAST CARCINOMA AND SURROUNDING TISSUES
d’Etude de L’Energie NucMaire in Mol, Belgium. While there, his field
included research on the interaction of ionizing radiation with DNA and
genetic manipulation. From 1975 to 1982 he was the Head of the Physics
Department, Silesian Medical Academy, where he was engaged in studies
of environmental isotopes in nucleic acids. From 1983 to 1986 he was with
the University of Ottawa, Canada and carried out research in the areas of
electromagnetic field interaction with animal and human tissues and cells
and simulated materials for electromagnetic absorption studies. In 1986 be
was with the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Virginia Com-
monwealth University.
Stanislaw S. Stuchly (M’70-SM’72) was born
in Lwow, Poland. He received the B.Sc. degree
from the Technical University, Gliwice, Poland
and the M.Sc. degree from the Warsaw Technical
University, both in electrical engineering, in 1953
and 1958, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from
the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Po-
land, 1968.
From 1953 to 1959 he was a Research Engineer
in the Industrial Institute for Telecommunica-
tions, Warsaw, Poland, engaged in research in the
Authorized licensed use limited to: K J Somaiya College of Engineering - MUMBAI. Downloaded on September 17,2021 at 19:18:43 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
263
tield of radar and microwave technique. From 1959 to 1963 he was with
the Warsaw Technical University. In 1963 he joined the UNIPAN, subsid-
iary of the Polish Academy of Sciences as a manager of the Microwave
Instruments Division. In 1970, he immigrated to Canada. From 1970 to
1976 he was with the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada as an
Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Engineering and
Electrical Engineering. Since 1977 he has been with the Department of
Electrical Engineering, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont., Canada, where
he is presently a Professor and teaches courses and carries out research in
the field of microwave theory and techniques as well as digital instrumen-
tation and applications of computers. He is the author of over 100 scientific
Damn in the field of microwave theow and techniaues as well as analoa
kldigital instrumentation and holds i8 patents.
-
J. Robin Barr, photograph and biography not available at the time of piub-
lication.
Arvind Swamp, photograph and biography not available at the time of
publication.