Microwave antenna implanted in the human brain

A notable event in the history of antennas occurred on June 12, 1980, when an S-band microwave radiator was surgically implanted in the brain of a human patient, a young man with glioblastoma multiforme, a common, deadly, infiltrating form of brain cancer. For l-hour periods on the 12th and 14th of June, several watts of microwave energy at 2450 MHz were injected to raise the temperature of the volume of tissue around the radiator a few degrees. A noninterferring temperature sensor, mounted on the antenna, monitored the temperature of the tissue. An overview is provided of this cancer treatment approach.