A Radio-Frequency Detection System for Biomedical Imaging with Magnetic Contrast

In this paper, a biomedical imaging system suited for malignant inclusion detection, employing magnetic nanoparticles as contrast medium, is presented. In particular, the proposed system, working at 3 MHz, comprises two identical sensors, symmetrically separated by the biological phantom. Each sensor is made up by an internal coil, resonating at the chosen operative frequency through an opportune capacitive load, inductively coupled to an external, unloaded concentric probe. The inclusion detection and localization are achieved by measuring the two sensors input impedances and their mutual coupling. We performed preliminary numerical simulations, obtaining promising results and demonstrating the possibility to correctly localize 10 mm diameter inclusions inside the investigated tissue, despite the significantly low frequency. The main advantages of the proposed system, beside the relatively low complexity instrumentation, also include the possibility to reducing the invasiveness for the patient since safe, non-ionizing radiations are employed. Therefore, the proposed imaging system can be potentially a good candidate as a non-invasive, low-frequency and contactless near-field device, encouraging further analysis-