Regional and Sex-Based Variation in Myocardial Dielectric Properties: An Ex-Vivo Porcine Feasibility Study
2025 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and North American Radio Science Meeting (AP-S/CNC-USNC-URSI) | December 8, 2025 | Volume: No volume available | Issue: No issue available | Pages: 1426-1428
Abstract Medical devices that use electromagnetic fields for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes are rapidly evolving. Understanding the interactions between electromagnetic signals and biological tissue is fundamental to developing safe, novel diagnostic and therapy treatments. This study characterizes the dielectric properties of porcine hearts from 10 male and 10 female animals. Dielectric properties are measured using an open-ended coaxial probe dielectric spectroscopy method over a frequency range of 0.5 to 20 GHz. Scatter parameters (S11) collected from various anatomical cardiac locations (LA, RA, LV, RV, SA, IAS, IVS) are converted into frequency-dependent complex permittivity. The calculated dielectric properties vary regionally within the heart, indicating heterogeneity in tissue properties observed at microwave frequencies.