A numerical investigation of microwave ablation on porous liver tissue

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2018. The understanding of heat transport in biological tissues is important for enhanced insight on the physiological mechanisms and thermoregulatory mechanisms. This article presents a numerical simulation of microwave (MW) ablation using a single-slot MW antenna on two layers of porous liver tissue. The two layers are of tumor and normal tissue. A porous media approach is proposed for mathematical model of MW ablation. Three coupled models which include transient momentum equations and a transient energy equation coupled with an electromagnetic wave propagation (EWP) equation are analyzed. This article focuses on the influences of the tumor diameter, tumor porosity, and input MW power on the specific absorption rate (SAR) profile, temperature profile, and blood velocity profile within the porous liver tissue. The results obtained from the calculation of porous media model are examined and compared with the one of bioheat model along with the experimental results from previous work. The results indicated that all parameters have a significant effect on the SAR profile, temperature profile, and blood velocity profile in the porous liver tissue. The advanced results in this research can be used in applications such as it provides guidance on the practical treatment and can be developed medically for therapeutic.