Minimally Invasive Microwave Ablation Antennas

This chapter is intended to provide a quick review on recent advances in minimally invasive microwave ablation (MWA) antenna designs and emphasize the authors' collective works in this area. First, it summarizes the key details and main findings of the studies investigating MWA performance at multiple discrete frequencies from 1.9 to 18 GHz. The chapter highlights the investigation of using higher frequency microwaves for tissue ablation, which is motivated by the aspect of reduced antenna lengths as the operating frequency increases. Next, it discusses methods for reducing diameters of balun‐equipped coax‐fed antennas, starting with a comprehensive literature review and then shifting focus to the proposed antenna designs. The chapter then provides information on balun‐free coax‐fed antenna designs which represent a different group of solutions for minimizing invasiveness of MWA antennas. Finally, the effort in developing flexible antennas as well as directional‐heating antennas, aimed for increasing the flexibility and customization of MWA treatment, is documented.