Ultra-wide band (UWB) imaging technique is very attractive for the early breast cancer detection based on the obvious contrast in the electrical properties of malignant tumor to the normal fatty breast tissue. The tumor can be detected by analyzing the reflecting and scattering behavior of the UWB microwaves propagating in the breast. In this study, the influence of the organism interfaces is investigated from different cases of breast configuration involving different gland shapes as well as the tumor locations. Results show that the gland structure and tumor status have large influences on the reconstructed images generated from the detected signals due to the interface varieties. The tumor information in the proposed configurations can be obtained by series signal processing including eliminating the early time response of the detected signals caused by the direct wave and the reflection from the interface between the skin and the breast fat, and compensating the path loss of the propagating signal due to the radial spreading and the attenuation in the lossy breast. The location and the number of emitters and detectors affect the quality of the reconstructed image. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.