title: A minimally invasive antenna for microwave ablation therapies: design, performances, and experimental assessment.
abstract: A new coaxial antenna for microwave ablation therapies is proposed. The antenna design includes a miniaturized choke and an arrowhead cap to facilitate antenna insertion into the tissues. Antenna matching and the shape and dimension of the area of ablated tissue (thermal lesion) obtained in ex vivo conditions are evaluated both numerically and experimentally, finding an optimal agreement between numerical and experimental data. Results show that the antenna is well matched, and that it is able to produce a thermal lesion with an average length of 6.5 cm and an average diameter of 4.5 cm in ex vivo bovine liver when irradiates 60 W for 10 min. Finally, the dependence of antenna performances on possible changes in the antenna's structure is investigated, finding an optimal stability with respect to manufacturing tolerances and highlighting the fundamental role played by the antenna's choke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Information Engineering, Electronics, and Telecommunication, University of Rome, La Sapienza, Rome 00184, Italy. cavagnaro@die.uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cavagnaro
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Amabile
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bernardi
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pisa
authors.forename: Nevio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tosoratti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002417:Cattle; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008872:Microwaves / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*