A Minimally Invasive Antenna for Microwave Ablation Therapies: Design, Performances, and Experimental Assessment

作者：Cavagnaro Marta^*; Amabile Claudio; Bernardi Paolo; Pisa Stefano; Tosoratti Nevio

来源：IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2011, 58(4): 949-959.

DOI：10.1109/TBME.2010.2099657

• Ablation therapies
• finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) methods
• microwave antennas
• microwave heating
• temperature increases

A new coaxial antenna for microwave ablation therapies is proposed. The antenna design includes a miniaturized choke and an arrowhead cap to facilitate antenna insertion into the tissues. Antenna matching and the shape and dimension of the area of ablated tissue (thermal lesion) obtained in ex vivo conditions are evaluated both numerically and experimentally, finding an optimal agreement between numerical and experimental data. Results show that the antenna is well matched, and that it is able to produce a thermal lesion with an average length of 6.5 cm and an average diameter of 4.5 cm in ex vivo bovine liver when irradiates 60 W for 10 min. Finally, the dependence of antenna performances on possible changes in the antenna's structure is investigated, finding an optimal stability with respect to manufacturing tolerances and highlighting the fundamental role played by the antenna's choke.

• 出版日期2011-4