Intracavitary and interstitial hyperthermia antennas

The author reports on the development and evaluation of coaxial microwave antennas and arrays for interstitial and intracavitary hyperthermia treatment of accessible and deep-seated tumors. This will be accomplished by exploiting advanced design concepts featuring preferential power deposition at the tip of the antennas and innovative array configurations that better conform to the varied but defined tumor volumes. These antenna design features will help to increase the clinical usefulness of interstitial and intracavitary hyperthermia by depositing microwave energy in the tissue without excessive heating or damage to surrounding normal tissue. The innovative interstitial array configurations will allow the construction of lattice array structures to effect uniform heating throughout the three-dimensional volume of the tumor. Applicator design is described and results of SAR (specific absorption rate) measurements are presented and discussed.<>