Estimation of temperature distribution inside tissues heated by interstitial RF electrode hyperthermia systems

The computational method presented relies on a semi-infinite tissue model. The needle-shaped RF electrodes are modeled with elongated spheroids. The heat transfer problem is treated in three dimensions. The localized current fields set up inside the tissue from the discrete implants are computed by using electrostatic methods, and the bioheat diffusion equation under a steady-state condition is solved to determine the temperature distributions inside superficial tissues. A Green´s-function technique is applied to solve the bioheat transfer equation. The heat removal due to blood circulation is also taken into account. Analytical techniques are used to treat the singularities in the vicinity of implanted electrodes. Numerical results are presented for several electrode configurations.