Hyperthermia Treatment Monitoring via Deep Learning Enhanced Microwave Imaging: A Numerical Assessment

Simple Summary Non-invasive temperature monitoring during hyperthermia cancer treatment is of paramount importance. It allows physicians to verify the therapeutic temperature is reached in the treated area. Currently, only superficial or invasive thermometry is performed on a clinical level. Magnetic resonance thermometry has been proposed as a a non-invasive alternative but its applicability is limited. Conversely, microwave imaging based thermometry is a potential low cost candidate for non-invasive temperature monitoring. This works presents a computational study in which the use of deep learning is proposed to face the challenges related to the use of microwave imaging in hyperthermia monitoring. The paper deals with the problem of monitoring temperature during hyperthermia treatments in the whole domain of interest. In particular, a physics-assisted deep learning computational framework is proposed to provide an objective assessment of the temperature in the target tissue to be treated and in the healthy one to be preserved, based on the measurements performed by a microwave imaging device. The proposed concept is assessed in-silico for the case of neck tumors achieving an accuracy above 90%. The paper results show the potential of the proposed approach and support further studies aimed at its experimental validation.