Theoretical investigation of measurement procedures for the quality assurance of superficial hyperthermia applicators

This work presents the results obtained from simple numerical models concerning the measurement uncertainty with thermographic techniques used for the evaluation of superficial hyperthermia applicators. Based upon the calculations performed, it is shown that, when using a thermographic technique to measure the SAR distribution of an applicator, heating times from 60-120 s and measuring times of 10 s are acceptable for an accurate assessment of the half-width at half power (HWHP) of an applicator (error less than 2%) with an expected HWHP larger than 2.5 cm. Only when the HWHP is expected to be less than 2.5 cm does the heating time need to be adapted to obtain an accuracy of 2% or better. For the assessment of the maximum SAR, the situation is worse. Even with a careful experimental design, it is difficult to measure the maximum SAR with an error less than 7%.

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