High efficiency microwave system for cardiac therapy

The use of microwave technology is increasing in cardiac applications for microwave assisted balloon angioplasty and microwave cardiac ablation. Traditional microwave energy sources used in these procedures have poor efficiency, are large size requiring them to be located far from the patient, and require coaxial cables to deliver power resulting in loss and heat generation causing potential safety issues. Artisan Laboratories Corporation has developed a new microwave system that is compact for potential handheld use. This system is based on a new microwave amplifier that generates 10 Watts with 70% power added efficiency at 915 MHz. This amplifier when combined in a microwave circuit can produce 80 Watts. In addition we demonstrate a full system that contains the signal source, drive amplifier and power amplifier.