Physical Parameters Measurement of Breast Equivalent Phantom for Clinical Studies in Radiofrequency Hyperthermia

Abstract

Purpose: Breast cancer is one of the fatal diseases which causes death in women. Microwave hyperthermia is one way to treat cancer cells by irradiating RF waves to the cells and increasing their temperature. In our study, we fabricated breast phantom. Then we placed it in an RF field with a frequency of 13.56 MHz. We measured the temperature difference in several parts of the phantom, eventually.
 Materials and Methods: We designed a 5cm radius hemisphere geometry which is similar to real breast considering as fat tissue, glandular tissue as a semi-oval embedded in the hemisphere and a 1cm radius sphere as a tumor region in it. Then, it is utilized in a three-dimensional printer. After that, each layer of the phantom was filled with a suitable mixture of oil-gelatin which had similar properties of a real breast. Finally, we placed it in a microwave device with a frequency of 13.56 MHz.
 Results: During exposing RF to the phantom, the temperature differences were measured in four different points of the phantom. Our power and time in this treatment were 40 watt and 5 minutes, respectively. Temperature and Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) plots were obtained in several graphs for 5 minutes.
 Conclusion: The results showed that the heat generation with this frequency is much enough to cause damage in tumor tissues while healthy tissues tolerate a lower amount of heat. The results have shown that this band of frequency can cause ablation in tumor tissues and can be used for breast cancer treatments.