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Noninvasive measurement of body temperature distribution during radiofrequency hyperthermia for cancer treatment

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Abstract

Radiofrequency hyperthermia is a treatment that involves heating cancer tissue by supplying a 10 to 100 MHz radiofrequency current through an electrode, aiming to induce thermal necrosis of cancer cells. However, this process also heats normal cells, making it crucial to monitor the temperature inside the patient’s body to prevent thermal necrosis of healthy tissues. Accurate noninvasive measurement of the internal body temperature is of utmost importance in radiofrequency hyperthermia. To achieve this, a numerical study was conducted to predict a patient’s body temperature by solving the Laplace and Pennes’ bioheat transfer equations for the specific area where the cancer is located. An in-house numerical program was developed and applied to radiofrequency hyperthermia to find the optimal electrode location, enhancing the necrosis rate of cancer cells while avoiding thermal damage to normal tissues.

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Abbreviations

C b :

Body specific heat [J/kg/K]

C p :

Specific heat [J/kg/K]

E :

Electric field [V/m]

f :

Function to distinguish surrounding and body

h :

Convective heat transfer coefficient [W/m2/K]

k :

Thermal conductivity [W/m/K]

Nu :

Nusselt number

Pr :

Prandtl number

Q :

Heat generation per unit volume [W/m3]

Ra :

Rayleigh number

SAR :

Specific absorption [W/kg] or [W/m3]

T :

Temperature [°C]

V :

Voltage [V]

W :

Local tissue-blood perfusion rate [kg/m3/s]

ε :

Permittivity [V/m]

Φ :

Electric potential [V]

ρ :

Density [kg/m3]

σ :

Electric conductivity [S/m]

b :

Body

D :

Diameter

max :

Maximum

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (RS-2023-00251503) and the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) funded by the Korean government (MOTIE) (1415184182/20011377).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Kookmin University, Seoul, 02707, Korea

    Ki Sun Park, Jung Kyung Kim & Hee Joon Lee

  2. Department of Applied Physics, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia

    M. Tamim Hossain

Authors
  1. Ki Sun Park
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  2. M. Tamim Hossain
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hee Joon Lee.

Additional information

Ki Sun Park is an engineer at World Energy in Republic of Korea currently. He graduated from Kookmin University in 2016, where he studied noninvasive measurement of body temperature distribution and optimization of cancer treatment in radiofrequency hyperthermia in Kookmin University.

M. Tamim Hossain is pursuing a Ph.D. in Applied Physics at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He graduated from Kookmin University in 2015, having studied an inverse method for temperature monitoring in thermotherapy at Kookmin University.

Jung Kyung Kim received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Seoul National University in 2003. From July 2004 to August 2006, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Medicine and Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, USA. He has been directing the Biomedical Device Lab since 2006 and currently serves as a Tenured Professor in School of Mechanical Engineering, Kookmin University.

Hee Joon Lee is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kookmin University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008. He has been in Kookmin University since 2011. His research interests are two-phase heat transfer, hydrogen storage, nuclear hydraulics, thermal bioengineering.

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Park, K.S., Hossain, M.T., Kim, J.K. et al. Noninvasive measurement of body temperature distribution during radiofrequency hyperthermia for cancer treatment. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 6065–6075 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-1045-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-1045-x

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