Heating properties of coaxial needle applicator made of SMA for hyperthermia treatments

This paper describes heating properties of the developed coaxial needle applicator made of a shape memory alloy (SMA) for brain tumor hyperthermia treatments to avoid undesirable hotspots. We estimated the temperature distribution inside an agar phantom by the finite element method (FEM) and heated the agar phantom with the developed needle applicator. Here, first, the structure of the developed coaxial needle applicator made of the SMA was presented. Second, the results obtained by computer simulations and the experimental heating results of the agar phantom with the developed SMA needle applicator were presented. After comparing computer simulation results and experimental results, we discussed the heating properties of the developed applicator. Finally, from these results, it was concluded that the developed coaxial needle applicator made of the SMA is useful for invasive hyperthermia treatments.