THE DESIGN OF A FULLY INTEGRATED REGIONAL HYPERTHERMIA-3T MRI SYSTEM FOR THE TREATMENT OF PELVIC TUMOURS

Optimal regional hyperthermia systems operate in a coherent radiative mode with the electric field along the body axis, at a frequency around 140 MHz. To allow 3D control of the focus and to ensure efficient power coupling to the patient, the gap between the antenna and the patient must be filled with a water bolus. This design has been investigated by Paulsen et al. [1] and Kroeze et al. [2] using finite difference time domain (FDTD) modeling and has been show to be the optimal design for regional hyperthermia.