Development of fabrication method for a phantom emulating breast tumor tissue for percutaneous antenna coupling measurements in microwave thermotherapy

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most common diseases and has high mortality among Mexican women. Thermic therapies are one of the most promising techniques these days. Microwave ablation transmits electromagnetic energy inducing a focalized temperature increment to achieve tumor necrosis in a minimally invasive way. One of the main limitations in the development of thermotherapy percutaneous applicators is the measurement of certain parameters in biological tissue. The proposed solution is the fabrication of a phantom that emulates the dielectric properties (permittivity and conductivity) of breast tumor tissue in order to make coupling measurements of the applicator in an experimental setting. A methodology for the fabrication and measurement of a breast tumor phantom was developed, achieving, with low error, the imitation of dielectric properties of the breast tumor tissue reported in the literature. The use of low-cost materials and the simplicity of the methodology allow reproducibility of the phantom for experimentation in the fields of diagnostic and treatment of breast cancer through RF in the microwave range.