thesis
Development of a Clinical Head and Neck Hyperthermia Applicator
- Publication date
- 18 October 2007
- Publisher
- Treatment of advanced tumours in the head and neck
(H&N) remains complex and the toxicity related to the currently
standard treatment modalities is a major issue. For many tumour
sites, the addition of hyperthermia (HT) to radiotherapy has been
shown to result in improved local control rates and/or better overall
survival rates. HT has a high potential to improve cancer treatment
results in H&N patients as well without adding toxicity. However, an
appropriate applicator that can heat both superficially and deeply
located target sites in the H&N region is currently not available.
This thesis describes the items that needed to be addressed to design
and build such an applicator. Extensive theoretical parameters
studies were performed 1) to show the feasibility of deep heating in
the H&N using radiofrequency (RF) waves and 2) to guide the design of
the applicator. These parameter studies were performed using
electromagnetic (EM) simulation programs. The predictions were then
verified by measurements and with their results we designed and build
a clinical prototype (the HYPERcollar applicator). We performed
treatment planning for several patients to establish the specific
absorption rate (SAR) patterns that are achievable with this
applicator. In a heating session of the first patient of an ongoing
clinical feasibility study we showed the possibility of deep heating
using the HYPERcollar applicator.