Computation of ultimate SAR amplification factors for radiofrequency hyperthermia in non-uniform body models: impact of frequency and tumour location

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Purpose: We introduce a method for calculation of the ultimate specific absorption rate (SAR) amplification factors (uSAF) in non-uniform body models. The uSAF is the greatest possible SAF achievable by any hyperthermia (HT) phased array for a given frequency, body model and target heating volume. Methods: First, we generate a basis-set of solutions to Maxwell’s equations inside the body model. We place a large number of electric and magnetic dipoles around the body model and excite them with random amplitudes and phases. We then compute the electric fields created in the body model by these excitations using an ultra-fast volume integral solver called MARIE. We express the field pattern that maximises the SAF in the target tumour as a linear combination of these basis fields and optimise the combination weights so as to maximise SAF (concave problem). We compute the uSAFs in the Duke body models at 10 frequencies in the 20–900 MHz range and for twelve 3 cm-diameter tumours located at various depths in the head and neck. Results: For both shallow and deep tumours, the frequency yielding the greatest uSAF was ∼900 MHz. Since this is the greatest frequency that we simulated, we hypothesise that the globally optimal frequency is actually greater. Conclusions: The uSAFs computed in this work are very large (40–100 for shallow tumours and 4–17 for deep tumours), indicating that there is a large room for improvement of the current state-of-the-art head and neck HT devices.