A numerical analysis of heating tissue using the two-temperature model

Abstract

The process of heating tissue is considered here. The tissue is treated as a porous medium and is divided into two regions: vascular region (blood vessel) and extravascular region (tissue). The heat conduction in the domain considered is described by the two-temperature model consisting of the system of two coupled equations determining the blood and tissue temperatures. The acceptation of the certain assumptions leads to the model created by the single partial differential equation and the formula concerning the dependence between blood and tissue temperatures. In this equation the coupling factor and phase lag times appear. It should be pointed out that the phase lag times are expressed in terms of the properties of blood and tissue, interphase convective heat transfer coefficient and blood perfusion rate. The equation considered is supplemented by the appropriate boundary and initial conditions. The task has been solved using the finite difference method. In the final part of the paper the results of computations (3D problem) are presented.