Abstract
We numerically and experimentally investigated the heating characteristics of an RF rectangular resonant cavity applicator for the hyperthermic treatment of deep-seated tumors. First, Maxwell's equations and heat-transfer equations were solved for a dielectric phantom without blood flow. Conductive caps were attached to the dielectric phantom to shield the nontumor regions from the electromagnetic field. Several experiments were carried out on the basis of the simulation results. The results showed that it is possible to heat deep-seated tumors.
For a real-life application, a simple human model with organs and blood flow, equipped with the caps, was modeled and solved numerically. It was found that the tumor region was heated to a comparatively higher temperature as that of the normal cells. Therefore, the rectangular resonant cavity applicator with the caps can potentially be used for heating deep-seated tumors.
