Metamaterial (MTM) Applicators

Increasing the Effectiveness of Cancer Therapy through Microwave Hyperthermia

Cancer represents one of the most serious causes of morbidity and mortality in today’s population. The efficacy of standard therapeutic modalities such as surgery, radiotherapy, and systemic treatment is often limited in advanced or recurrent tumors.

In recent years, hyperthermia, the controlled elevation of tumor tissue temperature, has emerged as a highly promising and effective complementary method. It has been proven to increase the sensitivity of tumor cells to standard radiotherapy and chemotherapy and to help induce the body’s own antitumor immune response.

Microwave hyperthermia, which utilizes an electromagnetic field for heating, synergistically enhances the effects of conventional treatments. This not only increases their therapeutic efficiency but also enables potential reductions in treatment doses, thereby minimizing toxicity and side effects.

The key to unlocking this potential lies in the development of a new generation of hardware and software solutions.

Tonagena specializes in developing innovative systems for microwave hyperthermia designed for the treatment of tumors located in anatomically complex regions such as the pelvis, abdominal cavity, brain, and head and neck area.

Our goal is to develop a technology that enables highly accurate, conformal, and controlled heating of target tissue volumes while minimizing thermal stress to surrounding healthy structures.

To achieve these goals, we implement the latest advances in electromagnetic field theory, microwave engineering, and electronics. Our main innovation directions include:

• Advanced Metamaterial (MTM) Applicators: Their unique electromagnetic properties enable the formation of heating patterns with a level of precision that conventional antenna structures cannot achieve.
• Non-Invasive Real-Time Thermometry: We are developing a method for 3D non-invasive temperature monitoring based on microwave imaging.
• Modular Multi-Channel Architecture: Our hardware system for signal generation, measurement, and amplification provides the robustness, flexibility, and scalability required for precise, treatment-planned therapy.

The result of our development will be a new-generation hyperthermia system, a key step toward more effective, safer, and patient-friendly cancer treatment.

Our key innovation is the metamaterial (MTM) microwave applicator, representing a true breakthrough in hyperthermic treatment.

We address the fundamental limitations of conventional systems, whose size is strictly bound to the wavelength, a constraint that prevents optimal tumor targeting and often results in unwanted heating of healthy tissues.

Our MTM technology overcomes this physical barrier, enabling the design of applicators whose shape and size can be tailored to the specific tumor geometry.

This approach brings essential benefits for both treatment efficiency and patient safety:

• Precise Tumor Targeting: We can concentrate maximum energy exactly where it is needed, ensuring more homogeneous and effective heating of the entire tumor region for maximum therapeutic effect.
• Maximum Protection of Healthy Tissues: The more targeted energy distribution dramatically reduces the thermal load on surrounding healthy structures, minimizing side effects and improving overall treatment tolerability.
• Higher Treatment Efficacy: Improved tumor heating significantly enhances the effectiveness of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, making treatment more efficient and increasing the likelihood of successful tumor cell elimination.

Key benefits:

• Comprehensive Overview: Unlike point measurements, our system provides a full 3D representation of the temperature distribution.
• Safety and Control: The clinician gains unprecedented control over the therapy process — monitoring whether the tumor is reaching the target temperature while ensuring that surrounding healthy tissues are protected from overheating.
• Efficiency and Accessibility: We deliver accuracy comparable to MRI thermometry but at a fraction of the operating cost and with much simpler integration into clinical workflows.

• Multi-Channel Signal Generator:
  • Capable of generating up to 24 fully synchronized signals. Each channel allows independent control of power with 0.1 dBm resolution and phase adjustment with 0.1° resolution.
  • Modular and Scalable Design: Thanks to its modular architecture and the use of an industrial CAN bus, the system is robust, reliable, and easily expandable to meet future requirements and to support new types of applicators.
• Forward and Reflected Signal Measurement Module:
  • Continuously measures both forward and reflected signals on each antenna with 0.1 dB amplitude accuracy and 0.1° phase precision.
  • Instant Correction: The acquired data are immediately processed in a feedback control loop that dynamically adjusts the signals in real time, ensuring that energy delivery to the tumor remains exactly as planned, even in the presence of minor patient movements.
• Figure 3: Multi-channel antenna signal generator for hyperthermia systems and module for forward/reflected signal measurement on a single antenna element of the applicator.Our software enables physicians to plan and optimize treatment for each patient individually.
• Advanced Treatment Planning Software: From Virtual Model to Successful Therapy
• Universal Planning Tool: We have developed unique software that simplifies and standardizes the creation of simulation models. It automatically integrates patient data (from CT/MRI) with the model of our applicator and enables the calculation of precise electromagnetic field distributions.
• Clinical Implementation: This tool is being developed in collaboration with the Erasmus MC clinical center in Rotterdam.