In-Silico study of microwave ablation applicators of different size for breast cancer treatment

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in females around the world, surgery is the preferred treatment for this disease in early stages, however there are some emergent treatment options with less clinical and cosmetically repercussions, being one of these the microwave ablation. Microwave ablation is a minimally invasive technique used to treat tumors in different organs of the human body, mainly in liver, lung and kidney. It consist on the destruction of the tumor by rising the temperature of the cells until necrosis is achieve. In breast tumors, this technique has been rarely used in human patients. Depending on the type of tissue, an applicator must be made to be coupled to ensure that energy used is not reflected, so the standing wave ratio is closest to 1. In order to determine an appropriate design for the applicators that could be used for the treatment of breast cancer, an in-silico study of microwave ablation of breast cancer was made to show the difference between micro-coaxial applicators constructed with two different types of coaxial cable (UT-47 and UT-85) utilizing the same design in three possible scenarios breast tissue, tumor tissue and tumor surrounded by breast tissue. The simulation was realized using COMSOL Multiphysics commercial software, due to its capabilities to simulate the electromagnetics and thermals effects. A slot type applicator was selected because of its ease of manufacture and the available literature on it. The results shows a better coupling for the applicator constructed with the UT-47 cable, especially in the tumor phantom surrounded by breast phantom test.