Document Type

Article

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

2.10 NANO-TECHNOLOGY, Nano-materials, Nano-processes

Publication Details

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RF AND MICROWAVE COMPUTER-AIDED ENGINEERING, 28 (3):SI 10.1002/mmce.21236 MAR 2018

Abstract

In this paper microwave thermal ablation is numerically evaluated in the context of a treatment for Conn’s Syndrome. This condition is caused by a benign shallow tumour in the cortex of adrenal gland. The modelling and design of microwave applicator to deliver thermal ablation to the adrenal gland requires accurate tissue characterisation. Measuring the dielectric properties of the constituent tissues in the adrenal gland, i.e. cortex and medulla, enables more accurate numerical modelling for electromagnetic and thermal simulations. This study presents an anatomically and dielectrically realistic numerical model of the adrenal gland, and investigates the feasibility of applying controlled heating to small targets in the adrenal cortex. In addition, the use of dielectric contrast between the fat and the cortex of the adrenal gland to focus the thermal energy in the gland has also been studied. Being conscious of limitations of numerical simulation of complex multiphysics problems like the microwave ablative treatment, calculated results provide a preliminary description of the electromagnetic and thermal phenomena involved.


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