THREE-DIMENSIONAL QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT OF BODY FAT

A NONINVASIVE NON-IONIZING TECHNIQUE FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT OF INTRA-ABDOMINAL AND PERIPHERAL BODY FAT WILL BE DEVELOPED. THE TECHNIQUE UTILIZES THE SHARP CONTRAST OF DIELECTRIC PERMITTIVITY BETWEEN FAT AND OTHER TISSUES. IT EMPLOYS 1-2 GHZ MICROWAVES AS PROBING RADIATIONS AND EMPLOYS A FOURIER TRANSFORM ALGORITHM TO RECONSTURCT THREE-DIMENSIONAL PROFILE OF DIELECTRIC PERMITTIVITY OF A TARGET FROM NEAR-FIELD OR FRAUNHOFFER SCATTERING DATA MEASURED BY AN ARRAY OF SMALL ANTENNAS. THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING IS ACHIEVED BY SCANNING ANY PAIR OR SOME COMBINATION OF THE THREE PARAMETERS, VIZ., INCIDENT DIRECTION, SCATTERING ANGLE, AND MICROWAVE FREQUENCY. THE TARGET AND THE ANTENNA ARRAY ARE BUFFERED IN A LAYER OF DIELECTRIC FLUID TO IMPROVE IMPEDANCE MATCHING, REDUCE SCATTERING STRENGTH, AND CONTRACT THE MICROWAVE WAVELENGTH. FOR A WATER BUFFERED SYSTEMS WITH 2 GHZ MICROWAVE FREQUENCE, THE IMAGE CAN DIFFERENTIATE DIELECTRIC PERMITTIVITY UP TO +0.01, AND YEILD A RESOLUTION UP TO 2 MM IN ALL THREE DIMENSIONS. WHILE THERE EXIST MANY NONINVASIVE INTEROGATION DEVICES, DIRECT THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING OF DIELECTRIC PERMITTIVITY IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE. THE RESEACH IS EXPECTED TO LEAD TO DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW-COST AND TRANSPORTABLE DIELECTRIC IMAGING SYSTEM FOR NON-INVASIVE QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT OF BODY FAT AND OTHER DIAGNOSTIC APPLICATIONS.