Possible Leaky Wave Antennas for Propagation Therapy using SAR Analysis

This paper presents an overview of design and functionality of three novel leaky wave antennas (LWAs) that are proposed as a possible hyperthermia system using LWA logic. LWAs are best known for their interesting property of frequency scanning. This makes them appealing for beam steering applications such as biomedical hyperthermia and radar applications. Regarding the biomedical hyperthermia application, the property of beam scanning could be used for treatment of tumors found in different regions and depths of a given tissue. The proposed antennas are as follows: (1) mushroom-typed leaky wave antenna, (2) two-dimensionally (2D) periodically slotted leaky wave antenna, (3) belt-shaped leaky wave antenna. Each antenna provides distinguished advantages for hyperthermia therapy which will be discussed in the corresponding sections. For example, the belt-shaped leaky wave antenna is a conformal antenna that could follow the cylindrical shape of the patient’s neck and focus the electromagnetic beam on the neck tumors. Two-dimensional LWAs such as mushroom-typed leaky wave antennas provide more beam steering flexibility compared to 1D types such as 1D slotted leaky wave antennas.