2nd IEEE International Conference on Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Egypt
ICEEM2021, 3-4 July 2021
Early Detection of Breast Cancer using Microstrip
Patch Antenna
Donia N. Elsherif
Electronic Engineering Department
2021 International Conference on Electronic Engineering (ICEEM) | 978-1-6654-1842-3/20/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICEEM52022.2021.9480646
Assiut University
Assiut, Egypt
doniaanabil@gmail.com
Abstract—Breast cancer is one of the most common and life-
threatening diseases among women. Hence, early diagnosis is
important to detect cancer tissue. But the common techniques
used for breast cancer detection have limitations. So, microwave
imaging (MWI) techniques were developed. MWI techniques
are rather interesting and promising. In this paper, a
rectangular microstrip patch antenna (RMPA) was designed
and modified for breast cancer detection. And a breast phantom
was modeled with tumor and without tumor using Computer
Simulation Technology Microwave Studio (CST-MWS). Once
the breast tumor is embedded within, the results showed that the
current density, the magnetic field, the electric field, and the
power loss density have been increased by 30 A/m2, 10 A/m, 1800
V/m, and 100000 W/m3, respectively. These results show that the
described RMPA is capable to detect the tumor in the breast
with better characteristics than the other available designs in the
literature.
Keywords— breast cancer, cancer detection, Microwave
Imaging (MWI), microstrip patch antenna, CST-MWS, breast
phantom model
I. INTRODUCTION
Cancer is a disease that occurs because of the
uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells that spread rapidly to
the rest of the body and damage healthy tissues. It can start
almost anywhere in the body and usually forms a solid tumor.
Among different types of cancers, breast cancer kills
thousands of women every year. In 2020, breast cancer was
the most commonly diagnosed cancer. There were an
estimated 2.3 million new cases among women worldwide,
which indicates that one in every 8 cases was diagnosed as
breast cancer [1]. Women around the world suffer from the
consequences of this disease due to late diagnosis. To
improve the survival rate of this disease, more patients need
to be diagnosed at an early stage.
Early diagnosis is no less important than the treatment
process as it increases the percentage of survival and helps to
avoid breast removal. There are numerous techniques for
tumor detection, such as X-ray mammography, MRI, and
ultrasound; however, these techniques have limitations due to
their side effects. For instance, the major drawback of X-ray
mammography is ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation
exposure in X-ray mammography affects women, especially
young ones, which results in mutation of the cell because it
increases the possibility of converting healthy tissue into
malignant tissue and the death of body cells [2]. Besides, the
procedure used in X-ray mammography is painful and can be
inaccurate. Thus, communication engineers developed
microwave imaging (MWI) techniques.
978-1-6654-1842-3/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE
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Mostafa Y. Makkey
Electronic Engineering Department
Assiut University
Assiut, Egypt
mymakkey@yahoo.com
II. MICROWAVE IMAGING TECHNIQUES
Microwave imaging has many researches that had been
conducted for medical diagnosis in the last decade and
succeeded in detecting tumors within the breast [3]. MWI
techniques are rather attractive and promising because of the
low cost and safety. For breast cancer detection, a microwave
imaging system consists of a transmitting antenna that
transmits electromagnetic waves to the breast and a receiving
antenna that receives the scattered waves [4]. The concept of
using the MWI technique to detect tumors within the breast
is the significant contrast in the electrical properties of the
healthy tissues and the cancerous tissue [5]–[7].
Various types of antenna are used to detect breast tumors
within [8]. A microstrip patch antenna (MPA) is considered
to be a great choice for communication engineers due to its
various advantages, such as easy manufacture, low profile,
and low cost [9]. Therefore, they are very well suited for
many applications, such as satellite communication,
biomedical applications, radar, etc. [10].
A lot of researches in breast cancer detection has been
conducted using MPA. In 2015, an inset-fed rectangular
microstrip patch antenna (RMPA) was designed to detect
cancerous tissue into breast structure. And a simple 3D breast
structure was modeled [11]. In 2017, a comparison was made
between five microstrip patch antennas at 2.45 GHz
frequency to choose the perfect MPA that can be used in a
microwave breast imaging system [12]. In 2017, a RMPA
was designed to detect cancer tumors in the breast. The breast
phantom model and the RMPA were designed and simulated
using Computer Simulation Technology Microwave Studio
(CST-MWS) software [13]. In 2019, a square microstrip
patch antenna was designed at the industrial, scientific, and
medical (ISM) band [14]. In 2020, an array of (2x1)
rectangular patches was designed. One patch was fed with a
source frequency of 2.45 GHz. The other patch was attached
to the network analyzer’s detector probe [15].
III. MICROWAVE ANTENNA DESIGN
A simple MPA consists of four parts: a dielectric
substrate, a metallic patch, a ground plane, and a feeding part
[9].
In this study, a RMPA is designed for the ISM (2.4-2.48
GHz) band of frequency 2.45 GHz. The rectangular patch is
designed on one side of a FR4 substrate of thickness 1.6 mm
and dielectric constant 4.3 F/m. The patch and ground are
made up of copper. The design strategy was to keep minimum
return loss nearly at the resonant frequency of 2.45 GHz using
the transmission-line circuit model [9]. The inset feed
https://iceem2021.conferences.ekb.eg
technique is used to excite the RMPA. By accurately A. Antenna Design Equations
calculating the position of the inset-feed point, matching The patch width (WP ) and patch length (L ) were found using
impedance can be achieved [16]. The proposed RMPA is the following formulas [9]:
C
shown in Fig. 1.
W
ε 1
Despite the various advantages of a MPA, it suffers from
2f
(1)
2
narrow frequency bandwidth, low power, and low efficiency.
A U-shaped slot was cut away from the patch to improve the

ε 1 ε 1 h
performance of the RMPA [17]. The patch corners were cut

ε 1 12
away by rectangular slots of (5x5) mm2, so that the antenna
2 2 W
characteristics don’t change when interference with the breast (2)
phantom model [13]. The last structure is shown in Fig. 2.
C
L 2∆L
Some of the parameters were optimized using CST-MWS.

2f √
TABLE I. shows the final optimized parameters.
(3)

W
ε 0.3 # 0.264%
∆L 0.412h ! h (
W
ε 0.258 # 0.8%
h
(4)

Where,
f0 is the operating frequency
C is the velocity of light
h is the thickness of the substrate
ε is the dielectric constant of the substrate
ε is the effective dielectric constant
∆L is the extended incremental length of the patch
The ground plane width (W) ) and the ground plane length
(L) ) were found using the following formulas [9]:
W) = 6h + WP
L) = 6h + L
(5)

The inset-feed point distance ( y ) was found using the

(6)

Fig. 1. The proposed structure.

following the equation [9]:

L+ Z
y cos 01 !2 (
π R 56 (7)
Where,
7 is the characteristic impedance
R 89 is the input resistance

TABLE I. OPTIMIZED DIMENSIONS OF THE RECTANGULAR

MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA.

Parameters Dimensions

Operatimg Frequency, ;< 2.45 (GHz)

Patch and Ground Thickness, t 0.035 (mm)

Patch Width, WP 37.6 (mm)

Patch Length, => 32.27 (mm)

Ground Width, ?@ 47.2 (mm)

Ground Length, =@ 41.87 (mm)

Microstrip feed width, ?; 3.1 (mm)

Fig. 2. The final structure. The inset-feed point distance, y0 10.79 (mm)

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 IV. BREAST PHANTOM MODEL
The breast is represented as a finite cone made of a
material with dielectric constant =9 F/m and conductivity σ =
0.4 S/m to simulate the breast tissue [11]. Although this cone
model is not a realistic shape, it is a reasonable approach for
feasibility studies for breast cancer detection. The radius and
length of the breast phantom model are both 5 cm. The tumor
is modeled as an 8mm-diameter sphere. The electrical
parameters for a cancerous breast tissue are dielectric constant
= 50 F/m and conductivity σ = 4 S /m [11]. The breast
phantom model is kept at a distance of 1 cm from the center
of the modified RMPA.
Simulation models are analyzed for a healthy breast as
well as in the presence of a tumor. The first case is the breast
phantom without any tumors. And the second case after
embedding a 4-mm radius tumor within the breast phantom
model, as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, respectively.
Fig. 3. The breast phantom model is kept at a distance of 1 (cm) from
the center of the rectangular microstrip patch antenna, without tumor.
Fig. 4. The breast phantom model is kept at a distance of 1 (cm) from
the center of the rectangular microstrip patch antenna, with a tumor.
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V. SIMULATION
The antenna structures were modeled and analyzed using
CST-MWS 2019. The performance characteristics of the
modified RMPA were obtained, such as the return loss and
voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR). The simulated return
loss is ̶ 42 dB at the center frequency 2.45 GHz, as shown in
Fig. 5. The VSWR is 1.015, which indicates a perfectly
matched antenna, as shown in Fig. 6.
The antenna parameters, such as current density, magnetic
field, electric field, and power loss density are evaluated in the
presence of the breast model using CST-MWS 2019.
Fig. 5. The simulated return loss is ̶ 42 (dB) at 2.45 (GHz).
Fig. 6. The voltage standing wave ratio, VSWR is 1.015 at 2.45
(GHz).
A. Maximum Current Density
The maximum current density distribution at 2.45 GHz in
the breast, without and with a 4mm-radius tumor are shown in
Fig. 7 and Fig. 8, respectively. The maximum current density
distribution in the breast, without tumor, is 176.5 A/m2. And
after embedding the tumor, the maximum current density in
the breast is 210 A/m2.
Fig. 7. The maximum current density at 2.45 (GHz) is 176.586 (A/m2), in the
absence of the tumor.
Fig. 8. The maximum current density at 2.45 (GHz) is 210.4 (A/m2), in the
presence of the tumor.
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B. Maximum Magnetic Field
The maximum magnetic field (H-field) of the RMPA at
2.45 GHz in the presence of the breast model, without and
with a 4mm-radius tumor, are shown in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10,
respectively. The maximum H-field, without tumor, is 92.2
A/m. And after embedding the tumor, the maximum H-field
is 105 A/m.
Fig. 9. The maximum magnetic field at 2.45 (GHz) is 92.27 (A/m), in the
absence of the tumor.
Fig. 10. The maximum magnetic field at 2.45 (GHz) is 105.78 (A/m), in
the presence of the tumor.
C. Maximum Electric Field
The maximum electric field (E-field) of the RMPA at 2.45
GHz in the presence of the breast model, without and with a
4mm-radius tumor, are shown in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12,
respectively. The maximum E-field, without tumor, is
17594.8 V/m. After embedding the tumor, the maximum E-
field is 19411.1 V/m.
Fig. 11. The maximum electric field at 2.45 (GHz) is 17594.8 (V/m), in the
absence of the tumor.
Fig. 12. The maximum electric field at 2.45 (GHz) is 19411.1 (V/m), in the
presence of the tumor.
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D. Maximum Power Loss Demsity
The maximum power loss density of the RMPA at 2.45
GHz in the presence of the breast model, without and with a
4mm-radius tumor are shown in Fig. 13 and Fig. 14,
respectively. The maximum power loss density, without
tumor, is 882018 W/m3. After embedding the tumor, the
maximum power loss density is 1000000 W/m3.
Fig. 13. The maximum power loss density at 2.45 (GHz) is 882018
(W/m3), in the absence of the tumor.
Fig. 14. The maximum power loss density at 2.45 (GHz) is 1000000
(W/m3), in the presence of the tumor.
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