Experimental study of a hybrid microwave radiometry-hyperthermia apparatus with the use of an anatomical head phantom.

This paper presents the latest progress made concerning a hybrid diagnostic and therapeutic system able to provide focused microwave radiometric temperature and/or conductivity variation measurements and hyperthermia treatment. Previous experimental studies of our group have demonstrated the system performance and focusing properties in phantom as well as human experiments. The system is able to detect temperature and conductivity variations with frequency-dependent detection depth and spatial sensitivity. Numerous studies have also demonstrated the improvement of the system focusing properties attributed to the use of dielectric and left handed matching layers. In this study, similar experimental procedures are performed but this time using an anatomical head model as phantom aiming to achieve a more accurate modeling of the system's future real function. This way, another step is made toward the deeper understanding of the system's capabilities, with the view to further use it in experimental procedures with laboratory animals and human volunteers.