Table A.1.
Thermal effective penetration depth | Dealing with problems at the interfacesa | Spatial power control | Thermal effective field size | Ease of use and positioning | Comfort to the patient | Temperature control | Commercial | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dimensions | Resolution | |||||||||
EM waveguide | Single applicator | + | ++ | 1D | – | - to + | 0 | 0 | + | yes |
Array | + | ++ | 2D | ++ | 0 to ++ | - | 0 | ++ | no | |
EM microstrip | Single applicator | 0 | ++ | 1D | – | 0 | + | + | + | yes |
Array | + | ++ | 2D | ++ | ++ | + to ++ | + | ++ | yes | |
EM capacitive | + | – | 1D | – | + | ++ | + | – | yes | |
US | Single applicator | ++ | 0 | 1D | – | - | 0 | + | + | no |
Array | ++ | 0 | 3D | ++ | - | + | + | ++ | no | |
IR | – | ++ | 2D | + | ++ | ++ | ++ | + | yes |
The performance is indicated by following grades: ++ very good, + good, o fair, - poor, – very poor
aDealing with the problems at the interfaces (fat layer under the skin and/or muscle/bone interface)