Adaptive Clustering Distorted Born Iterative Method for Microwave Brain Tomography with Stroke Detection and Classification.

A modified distorted Born iterative method (DBIM), which includes clustering of reconstructed electrical properties (EPs) after certain iterations, is presented for brain imaging aiming at stroke detection and classification. For this approach to work, a rough estimation of number of different materials (or bio-tissues) in the imaged domain and their corresponding rough dielectric properties (permittivity and conductivity) are needed as a prior information. The proposed adaptive clustering DBIM (AC-DBIM) is compared with three conventional methods (DBIM, multiplicative regularized contrast source inversion (MR-CSI), and CSI for shape and location reconstruction (SL-CSI)) in two-dimensional scenario on a head phantom and numerical head model with different strokes. Three-dimensional simulations are also conducted to indicate the suitability of AC-DBIM in real-life brain imaging. Lastly, the proposed algorithm is assessed using a clinical electromagnetic head scanner developed on phantoms. The simulation and experimental results show superiority of AC-DBIM compared to conventional methods. AC-DBIM achieves significant improvement in the size and shape reconstruction and reduction in errors and standard deviation of the reconstructed _r and at clinical scenarios compared with conventional DBIM.