Microwave Spectroscopy of Melanoma Progression Model

Microwave spectroscopy has shown promise as a novel diagnostic tool for skin anomaly characterization. Due to their increased water content, tumors exhibit dielectric properties that are in contrast to those of the surrounding healthy tissue. In case of melanoma, there is a danger of the cancerous lesion to grow into the deeper skin layers, while still appearing small on the skin surface. We here present a progression model of the melanoma growth, construct tissuemimicking phantoms of several stages of progressing melanoma and characterize them with the microwave probe in the 0.5 – 26.5 GHz range. Our results indicate that the dielectric measurement on the surface of the skin at the location and in the vicinity of a suspicious lesion may reveal in-depth cancerous tumor progression. Thereby, a microwave-based tool can aid the dermatologist in diagnosing melanoma in time before its growth reaches layers containing lymph nodes and blood vessels.