Application of microwave energy to therapeutic devices

Abstract

In recent years, various types of medical applications of microwave antennas have widely been investigated. Typical recent applications include medical information transmission, diagnosis, and treatment. In this paper, microwave techniques for treatment, which employ thermal effect of electromagnetic wave, are introduced. They are thermal treatment of cancer called hyperthermia and surgical devices using high power microwave energy. Here, in order to evaluate characteristics of the devices, numerical calculation is introduced. In addition, experiences of animal experiment and clinical treatments using our developed antennas are also presented.