The feasibility of the chirp radar-type microwave computed tomography as the non-invasive thermometry system for hyperthermia has been discussed. The temperature resolution which has never been measured accurately up to the present time is basically determined by the resolution in attenuation measurement of microwaves and the accuracy of the bolus temperature control system. By improving the experimental system including the temperature control system, we succeeded in imaging of the temperature change by 1°C.
The time required for the measurement which is required about 100 minutes now must be reduced for the practical use of the microwave CT. In this paper, the possibility of data reduction has also been discussed by comparing the quality of CT images reconstructed from reduced amount of data. From the experimental results, it is concluded that the amount of data required to reconstruct the CT images, even in the case of temperature imaging, can be reduced to at least one half by keeping the spatial resolution of 1 cm and the temperature resolution of 1 °C.
