Early work utilizing MW energy for thermal treatment or ablation of tissues such as liver using coherent phased arrays
began in 1979. This early work involved the use of multiple interstitial antennas driven with the same phase and equal
power at 915 MHz through the use of a power splitter. Early models of the antenna utilized a hypodermic needle that
was transformed into an antenna by the deployment of an insulated coaxial central wire beyond the end of the needle.
Early unpublished treatments of tissue phantoms and swine liver demonstrated the feasibility of such a design for
selective tissue damage, but sufficient image and targeting methods had not been sufficiently developed to support such
applications. MW therapeutic technology was subsequently commercialized in combination with invasive radiation
therapy called brachytherapy. For this application coherent arrays of coaxial antennas were inserted into cancerous
tumors. Initial investigators would deploy these into the tumor through 14 gauge plastic angiocatheters. In later
procedures, the antennas were inserted into the same closed-end plastic catheters used for insertion of the radiation
sources. MW energy delivery through the walls of closed-end plastic catheters and numerical pretreatment planning has
been in clinical practice since 1984. Recent development of numerical models, split tissue equivalent phantoms with IR
imaging, and tissue ablation studies have led to new insights in microwave ablation applications. Current research will
improve ablative heat therapy with increased temperatures and power to improve stand alone thermal treatments.
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