Development of an Algorithm for Predicting the Thermal Distribution by using CT Image and the Specific Absorption Rate

Abstract

During hyperthermia therapy, cancer cells are heated to a temperature in the range of 40 ~ 45 °C for a defined time period to damage these cells while keeping healthy tissues at safe temperatures. Prior to hyperthermia therapy, the amount of heat energy transferred to the cancer cells must be predicted. Among various non-invasive methods, the thermal prediction method using the specific absorption rate (SAR) is the most widely used method. The existing methods predict the thermal distribution by using a single constant for the mass density in one organ through assignment. However, because the SAR and the bio heat equation (BHE) vary with the mass density, the mass density of each organ must be accurately considered. In this study, the mass density distribution was calculated using the relationship between the Hounsfield unit and the mass density of tissues in preceding research. The SAR distribution was found using a quasi-static approximation to Maxwell’s equation and was used to calculate the potential distribution and the energy distributions for capacitive RF heating. The thermal distribution during exposure to RF waves was determined by solving the BHE with consideration given to the considering contributions of heat conduction and external heating. Compared with reference data for the mass density, our results was within 1%. When the reconstructed temperature distribution was compared to the measured temperature distribution, the difference was within 3%. In this study, the density distribution and the thermal distribution were reconstructed for the agar phantom. Based on these data, we developed an algorithm that could be applied to patients.