Experimental study of an enhanced water-cooling technique for interstitial microwave cancer ablation system

Abstract

The aim of this work is to investigate the behavior of the microwave cancer ablation system under enhanced water-cooling technique. Cooling is too important for the microwave ablation process to remove the heat accumulated on the surface of the antenna shaft due to the mismatching standing waves. Cooling of the antenna shaft prevents the rapid heating which causes carbonization of the tissues under ablation and blocks any more heat transfer to the tissues. Moreover, cooling prevents the back heating of the antenna shaft surface which harms the healthy tissues through which the antenna passes. The experimental ablation process has been conducted on bovines’ liver specimens at 2.45 GHz microwave frequency where the cooling water is circulated through an open flow circuit. The area and shape of the heated zone were taken as a criterion to compare between the performances of different cases of cooling water. To validate the obtained results and prove the death of the ablated cells, histology of liver tissues has been done. The proposed technique improves and tends to a larger ablation zone, smooth heat distribution, and no back heating on the antenna shaft.