Three-dimensional power focusing and shaping for effective hyperthermia treatment planning

Abstract

Microwave hyperthermia needs patient-specific and optimized planning tools in order to achieve an effective and safe treatment. However, development of these latter is not at all straightforward, due to the complex relationship existing between the array excitations and the resulting temperature distribution. In this communication, starting from a review of our recent results in this field, we discuss the ongoing advancements (and the open issues) concerned with the development of methods capable to solve the underlying electromagnetic focusing problem in actual hyperthermia treatments conditions, that is taking into account the vectorial nature of the fields, the 3D geometry that characterizes the scenario and possible lack (or inaccuracy) of patient specific information.Index Terms-microwave hyperthermia, wavefield focusing, constrained optimization, antennas array.

A novel near field radiation shaping technique by using data driven surrogate based optimization for nondestructive hyperthermia

“…For this aim, the studies about far field beam shaping are proposed 4,5 . Furthermore, in the last years, adapting of near field beam steering principle to near field patterns of array antennas, the focusing proposals in free space are available in the papers 6–9 . In an article published in 2020, 10 the systems that enable the destruction of tumors in the leg, breast and thorax tissues by heating were introduced and the application results were conveyed.…”

“…4,5 Furthermore, in the last years, adapting of near field beam steering principle to near field patterns of array antennas, the focusing proposals in free space are available in the papers. [6][7][8][9] In an article published in 2020, 10 the systems that enable the destruction of tumors in the leg, breast and thorax tissues by heating were introduced and the application results were conveyed. Although it was seen that the tumor tissues died in the applications, it was shared that the system also damaged the surrounding healthy tissues.…”

On the Role and Choice of Source Polarization in Time-Reversal Focusing of Vector Fields

“…On the other side, TR does not allow any control of the resulting field distribution, which is instead possible with more computationally expensive methods [8], [9], [10], [11]. This is an important capability, as it allows to accommodate specific application requirements, such as, for example, controlling the side lobes' amplitude of the refocused field [8], which is crucial to protect healthy tissues in hyperthermic treatments.…”