A large-scale measurement of dielectric properties of normal and malignant colorectal tissues obtained from cancer surgeries at Larmor frequencies.
OBJECTIVE
Knowledge of dielectric properties of malignant human tissues is necessary for the recently developed magnetic resonance (MR) technique called MR electrical property tomography. This technique may be used in early tumor detection based on the obvious differentiation of the dielectric properties between normal and malignant tissues. However, the dielectric properties of malignant human tissues in the scale of the Larmor frequencies are not completely available in the literature. In this study, the authors focused only on the dielectric properties of colorectal tumor tissue.


METHODS
The dielectric properties of 504 colorectal malignant samples excised from 85 patients in the scale of the Larmor frequencies were measured using the precision open-ended coaxial probe method. The obtained complex-permittivity data were fitted to the single-pole Cole-Cole model.


RESULTS
The median permittivity and conductivity for the malignant tissue sample were 79.3 and 0.881 S/m at 128 MHz, which were 14.6% and 17.0% higher, respectively, than those of normal tissue samples. Significant differences between normal and malignant tissues were found for the dielectric properties (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Experimental results indicated that the dielectric properties were significantly different between normal and malignant tissues for colorectal tissue. This large-scale clinical measurement provides more subtle base data to validate the technique of MR electrical property tomography.
Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510280, China.
Zhou
Z
Li
Biomedical Engineering Department and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China and Department of Oncology, Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510510, China.
Guanhua
G
Deng
Biomedical Engineering Department and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China.
Zhe
Z
Li
Biomedical Engineering Department and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China.
Sherman Xuegang
SX
Xin
Biomedical Engineering Department and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China.
Song
S
Duan
Biomedical Engineering Department and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China.
Maoying
M
Lan
Biomedical Engineering Department and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, China.
Sa
S
Zhang
The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510080, China.
Yixin
Y
Gao
Shanghai Chenguang Medical Technologies Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 201707, China.
Jun
J
He
Shanghai Chenguang Medical Technologies Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 201707, China.
Songtao
S
Zhang
Shanghai Chenguang Medical Technologies Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 201707, China.
Hongming
H
Tang
Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510280, China.
Weiwei
W
Wang
Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510280, China.
Shuai
S
Han
Center for NMR Research, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033.
Qing X
QX
Yang
Department of Oncology, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201.
Ling
L
Zhuang
Department of Radiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan 48201.
Jiani
J
Hu
School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering of Queensland University, Brisbane 4702, Australia.
Feng
F
Liu
D003106:Colon / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017097:Electric Impedance; D006801:Humans; D012007:Rectum / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology