Assessment of Specific Absorption Rate in a Human Knee Subjected to Microwave Diathermy

In this work, the distribution of the specific absorption rate (SAR) in a human knee joint exposed to microwave radiation during diathermy treatment is obtained using the finite-differences time-domain (FDTD) method. The three-dimensional model of the knee joint is constructed using two-dimensional images for a number of cross sections taken regularly along the knee joint. The microwave radiator is a dipole antenna placed close to the knee model. The SAR distributions are presented as two-dimensional gray scale plots in the cross and sagittal sections of the knee. The variation of the SAR distribution with varying the location of the dipole antenna relative to the knee is investigated.