A Novel 3-D Printed Microwave Probe for ISM Band Ablation Systems of Breast Cancer Treatment Applications

In this article, a 3-D printed microwave (MW) probe is proposed to operate within 2.4-2.5-GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band along with the numerical and experimental results for the local annihilation of contained tumor tissue that is the type of a human breast cancer cell line (MCF7) in MW ablation systems. The proposed MW ablation probe is fabricated by using an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material to construct a lightweight, cost effective, and easy to fabricate an MW applicator. The design principle of 3-D printed MW probe is based on the structural formation of coaxial transmission-line fed dielectric-loaded cone-shaped radiator for the near-field energy concentration in the close proximity of the cancerous tissue to be ablated at 2.45 GHz. Since conductive coating techniques have been improved recently, the inner surfaces of the designed MW applicator have been coated with the copper spray conveniently for the final fabricated probe prototype. The designed MW applicator has been numerically studied in CST MW Studio in an attempt to develop the near-field radiation performance, which can affect the ablation performance of MCF7 cells. The computation and experimental measurement results agree quite well with the indication of 3-D printed MW ablation probe to be utilized as an alternative medical device for cancer treatment.