A contactless multi-frequency brain radiometric imaging and hyperthermia treatment apparatus: The use of dielectric matching materials in phantom experiments

In this paper a hybrid system able to provide focused microwave radiometry and deep brain hyperthermia was experimentally tested. The systempsilas main module is an ellipsoidal conductive wall cavity which acts as a beamformer, focusing the electromagnetic energy on the medium of interest. The systempsilas microwave radiometry component has been extensively studied theoretically and experimentally in the past few years with promising results. In this work, further investigation concerning the improvement of the hybrid systempsilas focusing properties is conducted. Specifically, microwave radiometry and hyperthermia experiments are performed using water phantoms surrounded by dielectric layers used as matching material. The results showed that the use of dielectric material reduces the reflected electromagnetic energy on the air-phantom interface, resulting in improved detection of temperature variation inside the phantom and higher penetration of the energy when microwave radiometry and hyperthermia is applied respectively.