Liver and kidney tissue phantoms in hyperthermia and microwave thermal ablation. A review

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of different frequencies are being used in different biomedical applications to treat various health conditions. Two very prominent therapeutic techniques operating in the microwave frequency range are hyperthermia and microwave thermal ablation. While the former improves the efficiency of radiotherapy and drug absorption, the latter is used to destroy malignant tissue directly into the body. However, the systems behind both therapy modalities require extensive research and testing prior to being used on patients. Therefore, it is necessary to develop reliable phantoms mimicking biological tissues. In this paper, an overview of the state-of-the-art phantom recipes for liver and kidney tissue is given for hyperthermia and microwave thermal ablation applications.