Heating Properties of RF Capacitive Applicators with Temperature Measurement Functions from Ultrasound Images

In our country, a radio frequency (RF) capacitive applicator using a pair of flat plate electrodes is mainly used for hyperthermia treatments. This applicator has a risk of undesirably heating in the tissue near the electrodes and in the fat layers. In order to avoid the risk, using non-invasive temperature measurement inside human tissues during hyperthermia treatments is indispensable. However, non-invasive temperature measurement method has not yet been completed for safe hyperthermia treatment. We proposed a method to measure temperature distributions inside the human body from two ultrasound images before and after heating when treating tumors [1] .