Abstract

This work is dedicated to pointwise antennas design for hyperthermia treatment. In particular, we want to find the optimal values of current densities passing through each antenna to selectively heat a specified target. The forward problem is governed by the steady-state heat equation in living tissues, which is coupled with the Maxwell's equations modeling the electromagnetism phenomenon. An objective functional measuring the difference between the target temperature and the temperature predicted by the model problem is minimized with respect to the current densities by using the topological derivative method. The resulting sensitivities are used to devise an antenna design algorithm. Finally, some numerical experiments are presented showing different features of the proposed methodology, including its capability in heating selectively a specific target by using only the natural material properties of the tissues without the help of artificial contrast agents, which potentially results in a fully noninvasive treatment. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.