Terahertz (THz) imaging has the potential to detect breast tumors during breast-conserving surgery accurately. Over the past decade, many research groups have extensively studied THz imaging and spectroscopy techniques for identifying breast tumors. This manuscript presents the recent development of THz imaging techniques for breast cancer detection. The dielectric properties of breast tissues in the THz range, THz imaging and spectroscopy systems, THz radiation sources, and THz breast imaging studies are discussed. In addition, numerous chemometrics methods applied to improve THz image resolution and data collection processing are summarized. Finally, challenges and future research directions of THz breast imaging are presented.
Keywords: radiation source; terahertz imaging; terahertz imaging system; terahertz radiation.