Dependence of Temperature Rise on the Position of Catheters and Implants Power Sources Due to the Heat Transfer into the Blood Flow

Abstract

This work provides a numerical analysis of heat transfer from medical devices such as catheters and implants to the blood flow by considering the relative position of such power sources to the vessel wall. We have used COMSOL Multiphysics® software to simulate the heat transfer in the blood flow, using the finite element method and Carreau-–Yasuda fluid model (a non-Newtonian model for blood flow). The location of the power source is changed (from the center to near the wall) in the blood vessel with small steps, while the blood flow takes different velocities. The numerical simulations show that when the catheter/implant approaches the vessel wall, the temperature increases linearly for ~90% of the radial displacement from the centerline position to the vessel wall, while for the last 10% of the radial displacement, the temperature increases exponentially. As a result, the temperature is increased significantly, when changing the position of the catheter/implant from the centerline to the area adjacent to the vessel wall.