Sensitivity to parameters variation in numerical simulation of microwave thermotherapy

Hyperthermia for medical applications represents the moderate heating of human body tissue, commonly under the tolerance limit of 45°C, for the inhibition of cancerous cells growth. For our study, the heating is locally produced in soft tissue with an interstitial microwave applicator. Several aspects usually considered for the optimization of applicator´s design and the assessment of model sensitivity to various parameters are examined in this paper by numerical simulation. The numerical model that combines the electromagnetic and heat transfer problems is based on the finite element method and it was validated by previous research.