Abstract 37: Thermal Analysis of Flexible Micro Patch Antenna Excitation in Tumor Detection

Abstract Purpose: Infrared thermography (IRT) is a technique currently utilized in early breast cancer diagnostics and although it shows promise in bridging inaccessibility gaps for underprivileged communities through portability, recent analysis has shown that it is ineffective in detecting tissue anomalies between variations of human breast structure. Methods: In this study, the method of using electromagnetic fields (EMF) via an array of microstrip patch antennas to excite breast tissue to thermographically detect tissue anomalies is analyzed. Because tumors have a higher metabolic rate than healthy, surrounding tissue, a hotspot, or region of significant temperature increase, can be associated with the presence of a tumor when exposed to the same amount of excitation. Furthermore, in this study, a more effective design method for EMF detection is proposed and analyzed. Through the use of a flexible substrate, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the microstrip patch antennas can be curved to match variable breast structures in practical usage. With the use of finite element modeling (FEM) in ANSYS, the designed flexible microstrip patch antennas were simulated on the breast of a three-dimensional human body model, with the surface being assigned skin tissue material and thermal properties and realistically implanted and structured mammary glands being assigned mammary gland material and thermal properties. A tissue anomaly, represented as a miniature sphere, was implanted into the model and assigned tumor tissue material and thermal properties. The thermal response of the spherical tissue anomaly in comparison to surrounding healthy tissue was analyzed using ANSYS Steady-State Thermal. Results: The tissue anomaly itself saw a 0.091°C increase with the surface directly over it seeing a 0.06°C increase, generating a visible thermal hotspot in the area of the tissue anomaly, as the surrounding surface tissue only saw a maximum increase of 0.03°C. Conclusion: Ultimately, this study lays the foundation for the implementation of flexible micro patch antennas in portable breast cancer detection, as they can be manufactured with larger dimensions, which can be easily implemented in an effective arrangement for wearable devices while also minimizing gaps in tissue that are not exposed to excitation. Citation Format: Kishan Sivakumar, Benjamin Jessie, Babak Fahimi. Thermal Analysis of Flexible Micro Patch Antenna Excitation in Tumor Detection [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 13th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research; 2025 Sep 16. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2025;34(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 37.