A coaxial antenna with miniaturized choke for minimally invasive interstitial heating

We present a new coaxial antenna for microwave interstitial coagulative therapy, working at 2450 MHz and endowed with a miniaturized sleeve choke in order to reduce back heating effects and make the system response less dependent on the antenna insertion depth into the tissue; the way the choke is implemented makes the overall transversal size minimum and allows small adjustments of the choke section length even during operation. We describe the main technical features of the antenna and show experimental results clearly proving the choke effectiveness. Numerical simulations well agree with experimental data, confirming the suitability of the proposed device for minimally invasive medical applications.