Design and construction of applicator antennas for the breast cancer treatment

Abstract

This paper presents the design and the construction of interstitial microcoaxial applicator antenna for microwave ablation treatment (MWA) of breast cancer. MWA is proposed as a treatment for breast cancer in initial or intermediate stages and involves the application of an electromagnetic field that generates a temperature increase in the cancerous tissue. For the design of the applicator antenna, different parametric sweeps were performed, with the purpose of improving its efficiency and reducing the SWR when the antenna is inserted into the tissue. Ideally, when the impedance coupling is perfect, the ratio between the incident or sent power and the reflected power would result in an SWR of 1:1. This means that all the incident power provided by the source is transmitted without losses to the load; therefore, there is no reflected power. The SWR is a measure that determines the level coupling of an antenna with the medium, between closer to 1 the antenna will be more efficient at the moment of transmitting the power to the tissue. A SWR of 1.1 was obtained from the antenna, which indicates that the antenna has a good coupling in the tissue to be treated. The model was simulated by using the Finite Element Method (FEM).