Microstrip near-field focusing for microwave non-invasive breast cancer thermotherapy

In this paper, a novel focusing method in non-invasive microwave thermotherapy for breast cancer is proposed. Since the antennas used in the non-invasive microwave thermotherapy devices are no longer working as a far field transmitter, only its near field characteristics are critical to the performance of the system, design methods and principles have to be refreshed towards a better thermotherapy device. The method proposed in this paper focuses on the application of microstrip structure in these systems, is based on the nature of near field characteristic of microstrip antenna, thus to enhance the energy density of the target area. This novel device will achieve near field focusing effect by using single antenna, instead of antenna array, lenses or other methods that are usually utilized in communication systems. The focusing effect is verified and demonstrated by well-designed numerical experiments, and the results show that this method is very promising in the treatment of breast cancer.