posted on 2021-05-13, 13:41authored byD. Kernot, T. Thomas, T.H.J. Yang, D.N. Williams, P. Ledger, H. Arora, R. van Loon
Microwave ablation (MWA) therapy is a hyperthermic treatment for cancerous tumors whereby
microwave energy is dispersed into a target tissue region. Absorption of these waves leads to
temperature rise through microwave heating with the aim of exposing cancerous cells to a thermal
dose sufficient to kill them whilst minimizing the damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. Being
able to predict the progression of ablation during a procedure is of high value when designing
equipment and planning patient-specific care, as current dosimetry is given in guidelines by the
equipment provider. From a modelling standpoint this poses a complex multi-physics problem
coupling electro-magnetics and heat conduction. Added to this there are existence of multiple
temperature sensitive properties of tissue, as well as physiological processes such as blood perfusion which are heavily influential in the overall temperature profile. Here, we create a two
dimensional axisymmetric geometry of a probe embedded within a tissue material, solving the
coupled electromagnetic and bioheat equation using the finite element method, utilizing hp discretisation and the NGSolve library. Temperature, electric field strength and energy absorption
can be calculated and investigations into the effects of the highly temperature-sensitive properties
of tissue on the distribution of temperature throughout ablation.