Effect of interseed spacing, tissue perfusion, thermoseed temperatures and catheters in ferromagnetic hyperthermia: results from simulations using finite element models of thermoseeds and catheters

Finite element heat-transfer models of ferromagnetic thermoseeds and catheters are developed for simulating ferromagnetic hyperthermia, These models are implemented into a general purpose, finite element computer program to solve the bioheat transfer equation. The seed and catheter models are unique in that they have fewer modeling constraints than other previously developed thermal models. Simulations are conducted with a 4×4 array of seeds in a multicompartment tissue model. The heat transfer model predicts that fractions of tumor greater than 43°C are between 8 and 40% lower when seed temperatures depend on power versus models which assume a constant seed temperature. Fractions of tumor greater than 42°C, in simulations using seed and catheter models, are between 3.3 and 25% lower than in simulations with bare seeds. It is demonstrated that an array of seeds with Curie points of 62.6°C heats the tumor very well over nearly all blood perfusion cases studied. In summary, results herein suggest that thermal models simulating ferromagnetic hyperthermia should consider the power-temperature dependence of seeds and include explicit models of catheters.