Design of portable microwave imaging device for brain stroke detection

Brain stroke is the major cause of permanent disability and third most common cause of deaths worldwide. The number is increasing by 3% each year. Study shows that roughly 350,000 new patients every year suffer from stroke in Pakistan. Till time only 8500 cases of hemorrhagic stroke and 82 cases of

Project Title

Design of portable microwave imaging device for brain stroke detection

Project Area of Specialization

Biomedical Engineering

Project Summary

Brain stroke is the major cause of permanent disability and third most common cause of deaths worldwide. The number is increasing by 3% each year. Study shows that roughly 350,000 new patients every year suffer from stroke in Pakistan. Till time only 8500 cases of hemorrhagic stroke and 82 cases of ischemic stroke have been treated at the only acute stroke center in Pakistan at Lahore General Hospital, while nearly 300,000 patients suffer brain stroke in Pakistan each year according to a survey from AGHA KHAN University. Reports suggest that brain stroke is curable if diagnosed at an early stage so that patients can receive the appropriate care in first 6 to 9 hours which is the most critical time but the mortality rate increases due to lack of timely diagnosis. The existing solutions to this problem include X-Rays, MRIs and CT Scans but they have many disadvantages, for example they have a bulky mass of apparatus, high intensity and ionizing radiations that in often cases do more harm than good, and their cost make them unavailable to the masses.

In order to increase the chances of early detection, this project is geared towards stroke detection in brain hemorrhage patients using Microwave Imaging (MWI) which is a precise, cost efficient and harmless technique. The results of MWI system is a revolutionary step in the field of biomedical technology and will not only assist in brain stroke research but can be used as a preventive measure with the potential to impact patient lives. Our proposed project includes a transmitting/receiving antennas placed in helmet shaped devices to detect reflected signals from the stroke which can then be processed by using an applied algorithm and an image of the stroke can be obtained.  

Project Objectives

The main objective of the research project is to create a microwave imaging system as a detection technique for brain stroke.

1. To design and implement an MWI system for brain stroke detection.
2. To craft ease for clinical study for brain stroke detection using our proposed microwave imaging stroke helmet system.
3. To perform pre-clinical trials on brain phantom.
4. To provide a commercial product, make people aware about this threat and apply it in ambulances that will possibly soon save many lives.
5. To augment biomedical engineering solutions in Pakistan so that it can be applied in numerous other fields.

Project Implementation Method

We are using microwave imaging technique for our project .In the stroke detection system, we used two Vivaldi antennas with the best possible gain and the good reflecting and transmitting coefficients and use it to image the behavior of patterns of the phantom designed in CST and using real life mimicking cells’ elements that will show the behavior of the stroke and show the results.

The hemorrhagic brain stroke is detected by simulating a real head like phantom and placing Vivaldi antennas surrounding it in 360 degrees at a suitable distance. The head phantom is assigned particular conductivity and relative permittivity according to the layers. The human head has different layers of tissues and each has its particular properties. The numeric properties of human head phantom have been verified by different experimental methods and are now generalized as standard values.

The simulation is run on the graphical processing unit and the results are transferred to MATLAB software in the form of computational files consisting of required parameters. The data is utilized in running microwave radar-based imaging toolbox on MATLAB. There are different imaging algorithms that can be run using merit. We used an efficient imaging algorithm that works by reconstructing the energy profile of the image processed and highlights the areas of sharp dielectric contrast. The image formed shows the point data structure and the stroke tumor is visually represented in it.

The microwave imaging for brain stroke detection is done at the frequency of 2 to 6 GHz by using 12 antennas placed at different positions of head phantom and imaging is done by implementing the delay multiply and sum algorithm.

The head imaging platform, which has capability to attain different orientations and head sizes as per the requirements, clutches the DC stepper motor and other movable system hardware parts. A motor control unit is applied for controlling the stepper motor, by which the dispersed fields are collected from around the head. A compact Vivaldi antenna with the wideband operation and directional radiation are designed and proto typed. Two sensing antennas are applied in the system to bi-statically transmit and receive EM signals. These received signals from antenna will be sent to the Virtual Network Analyzer for calculating the different required parameters after that data will collect from the VNA and send to the computer to implement the designed imaging algorithm and form an image.

Benefits of the Project

Microwave technology is the emerging technique in town. It is way better than the other way outs have in than all other ways. Following are some of the advantages mentioned:

The benefits of our device are:

• Portable: It can be used in ambulances or at the bedside of stroke patient for continuous monitoring of stroke.
• Time Efficient: Brief timing for measurement that will allow the real-time diagnosis
• Low intensity:  As the electromagnetic energy is exposed to the brain tissues at VLF frequencies and brain tissues gathers the scattered energy but our approach makes it less harmful even from a simple mobile phone.
• Cheap: Our device would be low cost and inexpensive as compared to other alternatives.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The main purpose of this project is to build modules of a prototype MWI system including

1. Brain phantom to replicate the brain cells and stroke properties. 
2. Design of Vivaldi antenna for transmitting/receiving the microwaves with a low range of 2-6 GHz and a gain of 8.65dBi.
3. Hardware setup using LabVIEW and VNA for a 360o rotation around the phantom and collect the reflected signals data.
4. Resourceful stroke detection using Microwave Radar based Imaging Toolbox to construct the image of the brain stroke.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Medical

Other Industries

IT , Health

Core Technology

Wearables and Implantables

Other Technologies

3D/4D Printing

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com