Modeling of interstitial microwave hyperthermia for hepatic tumors using floating sleeve antenna

Microwave hyperthermia is a treatment modality that uses microwaves to destroy cancer cells by increasing their temperature to 41–45 °C. This study aims to design, model, and simulate a microwave sleeve antenna for hepatic (liver) hyperthermia. A floating sleeve antenna with 0.5 w input power was designed to resonate at 2.45 GHz. The antenna was tested in six different 3D liver models. The models were varied from a very simple model without a tumor and blood vessels to complex models that contain realistic tumors and blood vessels. To test the capability of the proposed antenna for heating the interstitial tumors, the size, shape, and location of the tumor were changed. The specific absorption rate (SAR) and temperature were calculated for each model. The tumors’ temperature was elevated between 43 and 45 °C, while the temperature of the surrounding tissues was below 41 °C. The Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) was between 29 and 30 W/kg in the tumors and below 24 W/Kg in the surrounding tissues. The return loss of the antenna varied from − 45 to − 25 dB for the six models. The antenna could heat hepatic tumors with different sizes and locations. The heating process was performed in a short time by using a very low input power compared to all previous studies.<p></p>