Hyperthermia refers to treatment by heat in which controlled heating is done on the human body for medical purposes, by raising the temperature above the normal body temperature. The objective of hyperthermia treatment is to elevate the temperature of the target (tumor cells) volume and maintain it in a narrow temperature window between 42°C to 45°C for a specific amount of time (60 mins) while maintaining the temperature of the surrounding tissue under normal temperature (<40°C). This increase in the temperature increases the sensitivity of tumor to radiation and chemotherapy. Hyperthermia is an excellent adjuvant technique with no late effects and is clinically demonstrated to increase the survival rate of patient by 40% and in some cases up to75%. Also, it helps to shrink the size of large inoperable tumors which can be operated by surgery later.

​

The reason behind hyperthermia not being widely used in India is the lack of awareness about the technology due to the high cost of the existing technology, which is not indigenous and the unavailability of scalable technology tailormade for the profile of the Indian population. The existing hyperthermia devices are very expensive and are inefficient in delivering quality hyperthermia treatment to treat advanced stage disease which is most prevalent in India. Existing applicators have high number of antennas due to the high frequency of choice which in turn increases the system cost makes in inoffardable in India.

​

The research objective is to initially study critical sights of tumors and their size in the Indian population. Accordingly, to design and develop scalable hyperthermia microwave antenna applicators for various tumor locations. The idea is to reduce the system cost by at least two folds by reducing the frequency of choice and optimizing the antenna design for realising applicator with reduced number of channels and better treatment coverage. It has been identified that there is a scope to develop the applicator using metamaterial design which will be optimized to deliver better tumor heating than existing applicators with minimal number of antennas (up to 4), which makes the system more affordable for clinical translation of this adjuvant thermal therapy in India. The large focal size and penetration depth of the novel applicator could be used to treat advanced and deep-seated cancers which do not exsist in current systems.

 

 

Primary objectives to be met in the research are as follows:

​

• Development of various sized designs of single microwave antenna applicator (Rigid and Flexible) operating at 434MHz and 168MHz frequency bands suitable to treat superficial cancers which must have large focal size, high co-polarization, high penetration depth and directivity. The applicator need to be tested on phantoms for the validity of the design.

​​

• Development of multiple microwave 2D antenna array's (Rigid and Flexible) for treating deep-seated tumors and developing algorithms to systematically fire the antenna to cover large areas in various regions. 

​​

• Development of reconfigurable metamaterial sections for improving efficiency and introducing steering capability without the use of phase shifters which will again be a crucial step to the drastic reduction in the cost of the system. 

​

National Significance

​

In India, for example, the mortality rate of breast cancer around 40% and the median 5-year survival rate of the advanced breast cancer patients is about 2-2.5 years. This mortality rate is very high compared to other countries and it is mainly due to the lack of advanced efficient treatment care at affordable price to patients. The research dream is to develop lowest-cost hyperthermia technology with an efficiency vastly better than existing systems for treating cancers occurring in the Indian population, which must be made available for every class of people and be made available in every corner of the country.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​