ADVANCED ANTENNA ENGINEERING

ANTENNA IN MEDICAL
THERAPY
Presented by

SP GAJAPATHII (20MCE0001)
MONISH RAJ D (20MCE0005)
AMARNATH V (20MCE0015)
INTRODUCTION
• Biomedical use of electronic technology associated with
electromagnetic(EM) fields and waves have been enhanced.

• Antennas for biomedical applications are used in close proximity to,

or even inside, the human body or specific organs.

• In the case of antennas for therapeutic applications, some well known

parameters of typical antenna are to be considered.
• Radiation pattern
• Input impedance
• Depending on the particular purpose, antennas for biomedical
applications may be classified into two major categories:
• Antennas for therapeutic applications
• Antennas for diagnostic imaging and sensing.

• In both categories, antennas may be used either outside or inside the

human or animal body.

• Medical therapeutic applications fall into two broad categories:

• Hyperthermia cancer therapy
• Coagulative ablation treatment.
• In diagnostic applications, EM fields and waves at higher frequencies
can provide a convenient approach to detect and monitor.
• The choice depends on frequency, power density, duration of
exposure, the desired specific absorption rate (SAR) and its
distribution.
• Antennas for therapeutic applications are divided into two parts:
• External antennas
• Implanted and Embedded antennas
• Antennas for diagnostic applications are divided into two parts:
• Non-invasive sensing
• Magnetic resonance imaging.
• External antennas are usually designed for hyperthermia therapies
• Embedded antennas are used for ablation therapies.
EXTERNAL ANTENNAS IN MEDICAL THERAPY:

• External microwave antennas used in hyperthermia treatment of cancer have been

designed as a single radiating antenna or in array configurations.

• Typically, such antennas are positioned near the body, and a bolus full of deionized
water is used to fill the gap between the radiating antenna and the body.

• Numerical methods that can be used to design antennas for hyperthermia systems and
to evaluate the SAR distribution and corresponding temperature increments.

Water bolus has a dual purpose:

• To improve the matching between the antenna and the body in order to optimize the
EM power transfer.

• To provide cooling to help maintain the temperature of the most superficial body layers
at normal levels.
EXTERNAL ANTENNAS TYPES :

The most common types and configurations of antennas placed externally

to the human body are:

• Inductive applicator.

• Patch antenna.

• Wave guide antenna.

• Phased array antenna.

INDUCTIVE APPLICATORS:
• Inductive applicators are often used at low and intermediate frequencies
where tissue resistive losses are predominant than dielectric ones.

• Inductive applicators are made coils through which AC current flows.

• The AC current creates a magnetic field.

• The magnetic field induces eddy currents.

• Eddy currents cause charged particles in tissues to oscillate.

• The friction caused by charged particles results in heating of the tissues.

PATCH ANTENNA:
• Patch antennas have been used as hyperthermia applicators in the treatment
of cancerous cells inside the body.
• They have been designed for operation at microwave frequencies.
• They utilize low loss materials with high relative permittivity (i.e..,εr between
10 and 30).
• Antennas designed to operate at 433 and 915 MHz have shown penetration
depths between 2 and 3 cm.
• While designs for operation at 120 or 190 MHz have yielded penetration
depths higher than 4 cm.
• In general, these microstrip applicators have been tested to give good
impedance matching characteristics.
• The multiple-applicator configuration, with each antenna fed in same phase
and amplitude, was able to heat a greater volume of tissue.
WAVEGUIDE ANTENNA:
• Waveguide antennas are often used in superficial hyperthermia
treatments.

• Designed from waveguides of rectangular, coaxial, or circular

crosssection.

• In Rectangular cross section, the waveguide is often terminated with a

horn antenna filled with water.

• It provide a greater penetration depth and a effective field size.

PHASED ARRAYS:
• Phased arrays in hyperthermia treatments allows to focus the heating patterns
deep inside the body.

• Focal point can be shifted by changing the amplitudes and phases feeding the
different antennas in the array.

• A conformal array applicator adapts its shape to the body and is made using
dual-mode microstrip antenna.

• It operates at 915 MHz, has been developed to heat tumors that cover large
surface areas.

• It can provide uniform heating to a large area of superficial tissue.

 IMPLANTED ANTENNA
 There is difficulty in heating and removing deep-seated tumors, liver cancer,

prostate cancer without affecting the near by tissues.

 This problem is overcome by using this type of antenna

 It also helps in spreading heat/temperature uniformly through only the

tumor affected area (based on SAR value).

 In addition to this, it also helps in heart ablation therapy for treating its

rhythm ( by using microwave antenna and RF antenna)

 Implanted Microwave & RF antenna

• Microwaves can produce larger induced thermal lesion whereas in Rf

antenna, a current is induced to flow between the active electrode and
the ground one; this current leads to a resistive heating, rapidly
decreasing in amplitude with the distance from the active electrode.

• Microwave allows deeper lesions, that is, regions in which the

temperature exceeds the minimum value necessary for ablating or killing
the abnormal cells ( can be achieved only through properly designed
antenna. If not, it will cause damage to healthy tissue).
Types( based on structure)

There are many types of implanted antenna for different applications.

But the two most widely used antennas are:

Monopole Antennas

Dipoles Antennas

These antennas are fabricated from coaxial cables

Monopole Antenna

• This type of antenna is used for hyperthermia treatment of cancer.

• It is made up of outer conductor from coaxial cable.

• In this, different antenna lengths were chosen in order to match the

antenna for using both in the thermal treatment at the lower
microwave frequency and as a radiometer for temperature
measurements at higher microwave frequencies.
Dipole Antenna
• Dipole antennas for interstitial hyperthermia therapies have been made by
connecting the inner conductor of a coaxial cable with the outer one with a
finite length.

• Another arm of the dipole consists of the feeding coaxial line, whose length
equal to the insertion depth of the line in the body.

• Its performance depends greatly on the length of the two arms of the
dipole and on the antenna’s operating frequency.
CONCLUSION
• Clearly, a great deal has been accomplished in the design of antennas

• Some challenges still remain that would help the therapeutic

applications

• For example, with regard to both external and embedded antennas

temperature increments obtained in tissues during treatment.