Preliminary Study of Coagulation Monitoring by Antenna for Treatment during Microwave Coagulation Therapy

Microwave coagulation therapy (MCT) has been employed mainly for treatment of small size tumors. In the treatment, thin microwave antenna is inserted into the tumor and microwave energy heats up the tumor up to at least 60 degrees C for generation of enough coagulated volume including the target tumor. During the microwave radiation, reflection coefficient of treatment antenna changes significantly. In this paper, possibility of coagulation monitoring was found observing the reflection coefficient change of the antenna by numerical calculations and measurements.