Heat Transfer in Biomedical Applications

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Biological Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 14402

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Via Claudio, 21-80125 Naples, Italy
Interests: bioheat transfer; porous media; hyperthermia; tumor modeling; LDL deposition; thermal ablation
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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Napoli, Italy
Interests: porous media; thermal energy storage; phase change materials; bioheat; hyperthermia
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Guest Editor
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney 2052, Australia
Interests: mechanical engineering; computational fluid dynamics; computational heat transfer; biomedical engineering

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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
Interests: porous media; multiphase transport; aircraft brakes; micro cantilever based biosensors; biofilms; macromolecule transport through arteries; cooling enhancement investigations; modeling of tissue and organs; natural convection in complex configurations; analysis of porous insulations; heat flux applications; free surface flows; flat-shaped heat pipes; thermal design and modeling; feasibility; optimization; parametric studies for various engineering applications and power electronics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Heat transfer is of fundamental importance in many biomedical applications. For example, thermal excursions are used to selectively preserve or destroy cells and tissues, such as in biopreservation, which is an innovative technology, applied to cell and tissue banking, cell therapeutics, tissue engineering, organ transplantation, and assisted reproductive technologies.

There has been a significant growth in the field of thermal therapy in the past few decades. The application of heat to living tissues, from mild hyperthermia to high-temperature thermal ablation, has produced a host of well-documented genetic, cellular, and physiological responses that are being researched intensely for medical applications, particularly for treatment of solid cancerous tumors using image guidance.

Bioheat transfer modeling is the basis of thermotherapy and relates to the thermoregulation system in a human body. Variations of temperature and heat transfer in a human body depend on the arterial and venous blood flowrates, blood perfusion rate, and metabolic heat generation, heat conduction within the tissue, thermal properties of blood and tissue, as well as strongly affected by the human body geometry. Several anatomical structures can be considered as a fluid saturated porous medium, as tissue can be considered as a solid matrix with blood penetrating the pore space of the medium.

A number of biomedical applications involve delivering biomodified nanoparticles to malignant cells and rapidly heating nanoparticles with an external source such as laser, ultrasound, or an electromagnetic wave to produce a therapeutic thermal effect or to release drugs. The interaction of nanoparticles with the external source and the subsequent heating effect are fundamental for the successful deployment of these novel techniques.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect original research articles on the most recent analytical, numerical, and experimental results in this field, with the purpose of providing guidelines for future research directions. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Cryobiology and hyperthermic biology;
  • Thermal therapies;
  • Heat transfer in clinical dentistry;
  • Heat transfer inophthalmology;
  • Numerical and analytical investigations of heat transfer in living tissues;
  • Employment of nanoparticles for targeted heating and in bio heat transfer enhancement;
  • Thermal management in the implantable medical devices.

Dr. Assunta Andreozzi
Dr. Marcello Iasiello
Dr. Victoria Timchenko
Prof. Dr. Kambiz Vafai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Heat transfer in living tissue
  • Hyperthermia
  • Bio heat transfer enhancement
  • Thermal therapies
  • Biomedical applications

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 5595 KiB  
Article
Numerical Simulation of Microwave Ablation in the Human Liver
by John Gorman, Winston Tan and John Abraham
Processes 2022, 10(2), 361; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10020361 - 14 Feb 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2532
Abstract
Microwave thermal ablation was developed as an alternative to other forms of thermal ablation procedures. The objective of this study is to numerically model a microwave ablation probe operating at the 2.45 GHz level using the finite element and finite volume methods to [...] Read more.
Microwave thermal ablation was developed as an alternative to other forms of thermal ablation procedures. The objective of this study is to numerically model a microwave ablation probe operating at the 2.45 GHz level using the finite element and finite volume methods to provide a comprehensive and repeatable study within a human male approximately 25 to 30 years old. The three-dimensional physical model included a human liver along with the surrounding tissues and bones. Three different input powers (10, 20, and 30 watts) were studied, along with the effect of the probe’s internal coolant flow rate. One of the primary results from the numerical simulations was the extent of affected tissue from the microwave probe. The resulting time and temperature results were used to predict tissue damage using an injury integral method. The numerical approach was validated with available experimental data and was found to be within 6% of the average experimentally measured temperatures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Heat Transfer in Biomedical Applications)
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13 pages, 3064 KiB  
Article
A New Thermal Damage-Controlled Protocol for Thermal Ablation Modeled with Modified Porous Media-Based Bioheat Equation with Variable Porosity
by Assunta Andreozzi, Luca Brunese, Marcello Iasiello, Claudio Tucci and Giuseppe Peter Vanoli
Processes 2022, 10(2), 236; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10020236 - 26 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2082
Abstract
Thermal ablation of tumors is a minimally invasive technique more and more employed in cancer treatments. The main shortcomings of this technique are, on the one hand, the risk of an incomplete ablation, and on the other hand, the destruction of the surrounding [...] Read more.
Thermal ablation of tumors is a minimally invasive technique more and more employed in cancer treatments. The main shortcomings of this technique are, on the one hand, the risk of an incomplete ablation, and on the other hand, the destruction of the surrounding healthy tissue. In this work, thermal ablation of a spherical hepatocellular carcinoma tumor (HCC) surrounded by healthy tissue is modeled. A modified porous media-based bioheat model is employed, including porosity variability from tumor core to healthy tissue, following experimental in vivo measures. Moreover, three different protocols are investigated: a constant heating protocol, a pulsating protocol, and a new developed damage-controlled protocol. The proposed damage-controlled protocol changes the heating source from constant to pulsating according to the thermal damage probability on the tumor rim. The equations are numerically solved by means of the commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics, and the outcomes show that the new proposed protocol is able to achieve the complete ablation in less time than the completely pulsating protocol, and to reach tissue temperature on the tumor rim 10 °C smaller than the constant protocol. These results are relevant to develop and improve different patient-based and automated protocols which can be embedded in medical devices’ software or in mobile applications, supporting medical staff with innovative technical solutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Heat Transfer in Biomedical Applications)
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17 pages, 8050 KiB  
Article
Heat Generation in Irradiated Gold Nanoparticle Solutions for Hyperthermia Applications
by Xi Gu, Darson D. Li, Guan H. Yeoh, Robert A. Taylor and Victoria Timchenko
Processes 2021, 9(2), 368; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9020368 - 17 Feb 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2750
Abstract
Gold nanoparticles (GNP) aided hyperthermia has demonstrated promising results in the treatment of cancer. However, most existing investigations focus only on the extinction spectra of GNP solutions, few reported the actual heat generation capability of these solutions to estimate their real potential in [...] Read more.
Gold nanoparticles (GNP) aided hyperthermia has demonstrated promising results in the treatment of cancer. However, most existing investigations focus only on the extinction spectra of GNP solutions, few reported the actual heat generation capability of these solutions to estimate their real potential in in-situ hyperthermia treatment. In this study, the impact of GNP clustering on the optical properties and heating capability of GNP aggregates in acidic solutions have been investigated. It was found that localized heat generation could be significantly enhanced (to up to 60.0 °C) when acidic solutions were illuminated by a near infrared light source at 1.7 W/cm2. In addition, infrared thermography imaging can only detect the surface temperature during thermal treatment, leaving the localized temperature distribution inside the tissues unknown. To overcome this limitation, in this study, the absorbed energy during NIR irradiation in GNP solutions was obtained computationally by coupling the P1 approximation with the DDA calculation to predict the localized temperature change in the solutions. It was demonstrated that due to the accumulation and dissipation of heat, some local areas showed higher temperature increase with the hot spots being connected and merged over time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Heat Transfer in Biomedical Applications)
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14 pages, 5084 KiB  
Article
Switching Monopolar Mode for RF-Assisted Resection and Superficial Ablation of Biological Tissue: Computational Modeling and Ex Vivo Experiments
by Jorge Yaulema, Jose Bon, M. Carmen Gómez-Collado, Juan José Pérez, Enrique Berjano and Macarena Trujillo
Processes 2020, 8(12), 1660; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8121660 - 16 Dec 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4311
Abstract
Radiofrequency (RF)-based monopolar (MM) and bipolar mode (BM) applicators are used to thermally create coagulation zones (CZs) in biological tissues with the aim of destroying surface tumors and minimizing blood losses in surgical resection. Both modes have disadvantages as regards safely and in [...] Read more.
Radiofrequency (RF)-based monopolar (MM) and bipolar mode (BM) applicators are used to thermally create coagulation zones (CZs) in biological tissues with the aim of destroying surface tumors and minimizing blood losses in surgical resection. Both modes have disadvantages as regards safely and in obtaining a sufficiently deep coagulation zone (CZ). In this study, we compared both modes versus a switching monopolar mode (SMM) in which the role of the active electrode changes intermittently between the two electrodes of the applicator. In terms of clinical impact, the three modes can easily be selected by the surgeon according to the surgical maneuver. We used computational and experimental models to study the feasibility of working in MM, BM, and SMM and to compare their CZ characteristics. We focused exclusively on BM and SMM, since MM only creates small coagulation zones in the area between the electrodes. The results showed that SMM produces the deepest CZ between both electrodes (33% more than BM) and SMM did not stop the generator when an electrode lost contact with the tissue, as occurred in BM. Our findings suggest that the selective use of SMM and BM with a bipolar applicator offers greater advantages than using each type alone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Heat Transfer in Biomedical Applications)
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