CALCULATIONS OF HEATING PATTERNS OF AN ARRAY OF MICROWAVE INTERSTITIAL ANTENNAS

In this paper, the heating (temperature) distribution patterns of an a rray of uniformly and step-insulated interstitial antennas located in inhomogeneous tissue and cancerous regions of the human body are calcu lated. Specifically, the bioheat equation, which takes into account va rious heat exchange mechanisms such as blood flow rate, heat conductio n, and metabolic heat generation, was solved using the finite differen ce method, while the electromagnetic power absorbed (SAR) in the tissu e region heated using an array of interstitial antennas was determined using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Numerical resu lts showing the validation of the developed computer program are prese nted, and the effect of varying parameters such as the blood flow rate on the resulting heating rate and patterns are examined. Possible cli nical implementation of the developed temperature distribution-EM powe r deposition pattern computer code in treatment planning is described.