title: Numerical simulation of radio frequency ablation with state dependent material parameters in three space dimensions.
abstract: We present a model for the numerical simulation of radio frequency (RF) ablation of tumors with mono- or bipolar probes. This model includes the electrostatic equation and a variant of the well-known bio-heat transfer equation for the distribution of the electric potential and the induced heat. The equations are nonlinearly coupled by material parameters that change with temperature, dehydration and damage of the tissue. A fixed point iteration scheme for the nonlinear model and the spatial discretization with finite elements are presented. Moreover, we incorporate the effect of evaporation of water from the cells at high temperatures using a predictor-corrector like approach. The comparison of the approach to a real ablation concludes the paper.
authors.affiliation: CeVis--Center for Complex Systems and Visualization, University of Bremen, Germany. kroeger@cevis.uni-bremen.de
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kröger
authors.forename: Inga
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Altrogge
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Preusser
authors.forename: Philippe L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Diethard
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weihusen
authors.forename: Heinz-Otto
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Peitgen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D013696:Temperature; D013817:Thermography / Q000379:methods*