Omnidirectional blade antenna for microwave tumour ablation

Microwave tumour ablation (MTA) offers a new approach for the treatment of hepatic neoplastic disease. This paper describes the development of a new minimally invasive microwave probe for tumour ablation, which is based on a waveguide fed omni-directional slot-doublet antenna. It is shown that the antenna can be made slim enough to be housed in a scalpel-like blade, thus permitting relatively easy delivery of the antenna to the site of the tumour. A computer model of the device indicates that microwave power is efficiently delivered to the tissue medium in which it is embedded, and that the heating pattern is relatively uniformly distributed around the slots at the tip of the blade.