Preliminary numerical analysis of monitoring bone density using microwave tomography

In this paper, a preliminary numerical study is conducted to investigate the use of microwave tomography in monitoring bone density in human lower limbs. By monitoring bone density, the effectiveness of Vitamin D treatment can be evaluated for Osteoporosis patients. In microwave tomography, the leg is radiated with non-ionizing low-power electromagnetic signals with scattered electric fields measured at several locations surrounding the leg. Within the framework of inverse scattering problems, the measured fields are used as inputs for an optimization algorithm to estimate the location and electrical properties inside the human leg. In this work, a two-dimensional cross-sectional model of a human leg is created and simulated using a finite-element method where the transverse magnetic approximation is applied. The synthetic results are then inverted using a finite-element contrast source inversion method. The results show that variations in bone density effect the results of the inversion algorithm.