Microwave breast imaging has become a significant area of research due to the high incidence of breast cancer in women and the limitations of conventional detection methods. In recent years, this field has gained momentum as it offers improved detection rates and several advantages like it is nonionizing and safe, cost‐effective, portable and flexible, has real‐time imaging potential, etc. A crucial element in microwave breast imaging systems is the use of well‐designed antennas, often organized in arrays. These antennas must meet important criteria such as wide bandwidth, compact size, manageable design complexity, and cost‐effectiveness. While numerous studies have introduced antennas that meet these criteria, there is still no comprehensive classification and evaluation of these designs specifically for microwave breast imaging applications. This paper addresses the gap by presenting a comprehensive study of conventional methods of breast imaging and several antenna and antenna array configurations that have been proposed for microwave breast imaging. The investigation examines the suggested antenna elements for these systems, categorized by antenna type and the enhancements related to operational bandwidth, antenna size, radiation characteristics, and the techniques used to achieve these improvements. At the conclusion of the study, a qualitative assessment of the antenna designs is provided, facilitating a comparison between them. This evaluation determines whether a particular design is suitable for the implementation of microwave breast imaging, based on its performance. In addition, the research provides an evaluation of the studied antenna configurations, highlighting the merits and limitations of each.
Das et al. (Thu,) studied this question.