Antipodal Vivaldi antenna for hyperthermia treatment

An ultra-wideband (UWB) antipodal Vivaldi antenna is developed for hyperthermia treatment of tumors in the human head. The proposed antenna has overall size 82×94×1.6mm. The performance of the antenna is tested in four background material air, oil, water and simulated brain liquid. The antenna is designed to operate in UWB range supporting low frequency range to satisfy wave penetration in the brain. Higher frequency ranges allow the localization of microwave energy in the tumor location. Simulated and measured reflection parameters of the proposed structure are evaluated. A phantom model is used to investigate a hyperthermia treatment. Design parameters are optimized to focus the energy inside the tumor location, by optimizing the phased and amplitude of the excitation of each element of an array. Results are presented, showing the effect of the optimization process on the distribution of the specific absorption rate SAR inside the phantom.