Heating Properties of Resonant Cavity Applicator for Treatment of Osteoarthritis

:This paper describes experimental results of a new heating method for treating osteoarthritis in the knee using a resonant cavity applicator. In the previous study, we proposed a new heating method using a resonant cavity applicator for thermotherapy of osteoarthritis,and discussed the calculated temperature distributions using 3D FEM. From these estimated results, it was found that the proposed heating method is useful for treating osteoarthritis in the knee. In paper,the thermal properties of the proposed method are discussed with experimental results using the prototype applicator with several types of agar phantoms. And the experimental results of the resonant cavity applicator were compared with that of the microwave diathermy system,which is used in Furthermore, in order to resemble real-life conditions, a cow knee was used in the heating experiment. First, experimental results of a cylindrical agar phantom with the proposed method and the microwave diathermy system are discussed. Second, temperature distributions of an agar phantom shaped like a human leg using both methods are presented. Third,the experimental result using the cow knee is discussed. From the experimental results,it is found that the proposed heating method using the resonant cavity applicator is effective for treating osteoarthritis in the knee.