A New Thermal System for Tumor Treatment

A new thermal system for tumor treatment was designed to enhance the curative effects while minimizing invasion to the surrounding healthy tissue. This system includes LN₂ cryosurgery and RF ablation, which can be used separately or simultaneously. A heat transfer model describing the thermal field during treatments was established. The SAR distribution was assumed to be resulted from an infinite linear source. Numerical simulation of the temperature distributions inside the tissue was performed using Fluent 6.1. Parameters such as the RF power, nitrogen flow rate, and the starting time of each treatment were adjusted to control the treatment region. The simulation results demonstrated that the RF power is the key factor to control the heating and thawing process, while the protecting nitrogen flow can adjust the heating rate slightly