Current sheet applicators for clinical microwave hyperthermia

Small lightweight applicators, intended to be operated in array configurations are described. Their radiative fields are induced by RF currents in a conducting sheet embedded a few millimeters below the dielectric covered aperture surface. In arrays, these elements can be used where conformity to body curvatures is necessary. The clinical prototypes are tuned to 434 MHZ and have a bandwidth of almost 20 MHZ, which accommodates the tuning and coupling changes due to different body movement, and tissue heterogeneities. They are relatively insensitive to air bubbles in bolus and scar tissue. Their inherent linear polarization allows easy visualization of the superposition of electric field vectors of each element of an array and provides deeper penetration on curved surfaces due to electric field vector addition in the medium. In the case of a large breast tumor, depth of heating of over 4 cm was achieved along the central axis of a 2×2 coherent array. Experimental evaluation of these elements, leading to clinical implementation, is described along with a clinical example