Abstract
Traditional moxibustion therapy can stimulate heat and blood-vessel expansion and advance blood circulation. In the present study, a novel noncontact-type thermal therapeutic system was developed using a near-infrared laser diode. The device allows direct interaction of infrared laser light with the skin, thereby facilitating a controlled temperature distribution on the skin and the deep tissues below the skin. While using a tissue-mimicking phantom as a substitute for real skin, the most important optical and thermal parameters are the absorption/attenuation coefficient, thermal conductivity, and specific heat. We found that these parameters can be manipulated by varying the agar-gel concentration. Hence, a multilayer tissue-mimicking phantom was fabricated using different agar-gel concentrations. Thermal imaging and thermocouples were used to measure the temperature distribution inside the phantom during laser irradiation. The temperature increased with the increase in the agar-gel concentration and reached a maximum value under the tissue phantom surface. To induce a similar thermal effect of moxibustion therapy, controlled laser-irradiation parameters such as output power, wavelength and pulse width were obtained from further analysis of the temperature distribution. From the known optothermal properties of the patient’s skin, the temperature distribution inside the tissue was manipulated by optimizing the laser parameters. This study can contribute to patient-specific thermal therapy in clinics.
Highlights
Thermal therapy is a treatment method used to control the physiological functions within an endurable temperature range and to maintain the local-tissue and whole-body temperature
The temperature distribution in a deep tissue phantom was controlled using various laser parameters. The optothermal properties such as the attenuation coe±cient, specic heat, and thermal conductivity of an agar-gel tissue phantom, which depend on the agar concentration, were measured
The temperature distribution inside the multilayer tissue phantom was predicted on the basis of experimental measurements and numerical simulation using the optothermal properties of each phantom layer, and the results obtained agreed well
Summary
Thermal therapy is a treatment method used to control the physiological functions within an endurable temperature range and to maintain the local-tissue and whole-body temperature. Moxibustion therapy is applied as a thermal treatment method. Moxibustion therapy cures or prevents diseases through heat stimulation by burning moxa, which comprises a herb named mugwort.[1] Thermal therapy is e®ective for treating diseases because it can enhance blood circulation by expanding the blood vessels. Controlling the intensity of the applied heat during moxibustion therapy is di±cult.[2,3] Moxibustion has several disadvantages such as allergic reactions and polycyclic aromatic carcinogen production from a mugwort leaf that contains terpenes.[4,5]
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