Microwave thermochemotherapy in the treatment of the bladder carcinoma-electromagnetic and dielectric studies-clinical protocol

Microwave thermotherapy is currently used in clinical routines for benign prostatic hyperplasia treatments. The temperature increase is obtained using an endocavitary microwave applicator placed in the prostatic urethra. This urethral applicator after a technical modification can be placed inside the bladder in order to potentiate the effects of the treatment by chemotherapy of vesical carcinoma. This paper deals with electromagnetic studies of this new endocavitary applicator. First of all, the experimental determination of the dielectric permittivities for the propagation domain characterization is achieved in order to be used in the electromagnetic model. Compared to experimental results, these simulations obtained by the finite-difference time-domain formalism allow us to determine the electromagnetic performance of this applicator. Finally, the in vivo study realized on anesthetized dogs to determine the therapeutic protocol associating chemotherapy and thermotherapy in the treatment of the bladder cancer is presented.