Synthetic Aperture Radar Detection of Breast Tumours

A potential participant will be asked by the breast care clinician if she would be interested in participating in a new form of breast scanning trial; if agrees to consider is given an patient information sheet and a brief explanation. After the initial consultation and either whilst waiting for, or just after the mammogram, will be approached by the researcher (who is a healthcare professional) to ask if she would like to take part. Equipment is shown and procedure explained, and if in agreement will be required to sign four copies of the consent form. The patient will be asked to remove top clothing and lie prone on a specifically designed couch that allows one breast to sit in a ceramic cup containing a small amount of contact liquid. The cup position is adjusted to get best fit which is tested with short trial scans taking a few seconds each. Once satisfactory the subject is asked to keep as still as possible for a 25 second scan. The radiowave array is rotated a few degrees and the scan repeated up to four times. The scanning procedure takes about 3 to 5 minutes in total, but with questions, consent, explanation and dressing the total visit time is about 20 to 25 minutes. The patient is returned to the breast care clinic to continue with investigation and management. Personal details collected at the time are the subject's age, menopausal status and breast (bra) size. Details retrieved from the hospital record system later are the fully anonymised mammogram, ultrasound scan and cytology/histology reports if available. No other intervention is needed.