The development of 3D anthropomorphic head and neck phantoms is of crucial and timely importance to explore novel imaging techniques, such as radar-based MicroWave Imaging (MWI), which have the potential to accurately diagnose Cervical Lymph Nodes (CLNs) in a neoadjuvant and non-invasive manner. We are motivated by a significant diagnostic blind-spot regarding mass screening of LNs in the case of head and neck cancer. The timely detection and selective removal of metastatic CLNs will prevent tumor cells from entering the lymphatic and blood systems and metastasizing to other body regions. The present paper describes the developed phantom generator which allows the anthropomorphic modelling of the main biological tissues of the cervical region, including CLNs, as well as their dielectric properties, for a frequency range from 1 to 10 GHz, based on Magnetic Resonance images. The resulting phantoms of varying complexity are well-suited to contribute to all stages of the development of a radar-based MWI device capable of detecting CLNs. Simpler models are essential since complexity could hinder the initial development stages of MWI devices. Besides, the diversity of anthropomorphic phantoms resulting from the developed phantom generator can be explored in other scientific contexts and may be useful to other medical imaging modalities.

中文翻译：

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开发3D拟人幻影发生器，用于头颈部区域的微波成像应用。

3D拟人化头部和颈部模型的开发对于探索新颖的成像技术（例如基于雷达的MicroWave Imaging（MWI））具有至关重要的意义，并且该技术具有及时诊断新辅助和非常规颈淋巴结（CLN）的潜力。侵入性方式。在头颈部癌症的情况下，我们对LNs的大规模筛查提出了重要的诊断盲点，这激发了我们的动力。及时检测和选择性清除转移性CLNs将防止肿瘤细胞进入淋巴和血液系统，并转移到其他身体部位。本文介绍了开发的幻像发生器，该模型可以在1至10 GHz的频率范围内对宫颈区域的主要生物组织（包括CLN）及其介电特性进行拟人化建模，基于磁共振图像。由此产生的复杂程度各异的模型非常适合在能够检测CLN的基于雷达的MWI设备的开发的所有阶段做出贡献。由于复杂性可能会阻碍MWI设备的初始开发阶段，因此简化模型至关重要。此外，由发达的幻影发生器产生的拟人化幻影的多样性可以在其他科学背景下进行探索，并且可能对其他医学成像方式有用。