A tutorial on recent advances in Thermal Therapy Systems

摘要

Thermal therapy as a treatment for cancer is a dynamic treatment epicenter, with a variety of technologies available and undergoing continuous improvement. Recent advances in technology and applications for thermal therapy give clinicians more power to affect larger volumes of tissue in less time. New radiofrequency (RF) and microwave (MW) systems have appeared recently, giving powerful tools for cancer therapy. Novel therapeutic ultrasound (US) technologies are being explored, but are presently not commercialized. Thermal therapy applicators that deliver power to the target in the patient will be reviewed for shape, size, and features. The operation and performance of various applicators will be discussed. In the goal of performance increase, several features have been commercialized in the evolution of the technology, including cooling, multiple applicator arrays, power modulation, and applicator deployment and shape change. To place recent progress into perspective, a historical review of some RF and MW applicators will be given. The work will cover modeling and simulations, as well as in-vitro, in-vivo, and clinical results.