title: A design of RF stimulator which is similar to temperature distribution by moxibustion (preliminary study).
abstract: We developed a novel radio-frequency (RF) stimulator to mimic heat effects similar to the temperature distributions created by moxibustion in porcine tissue. Moxibustion is a traditional Oriental medicine technique using moxa, which is utilized not only to cure disease, but also to increase immunity. However, it may lead to undesired effects including severe pains, blisters, and burns because of the difficulty of controlling heat intensity during the process. To overcome these problems, a novel RF stimulator that can conduct thermal energy to the deep tissue of the body and also easily control the power of heat stimulation was proposed. RF stimulating protocols were designed to mimic the temperature profiles of two types of moxibustion. In our results, the temperature distributions created by the proposed protocols were similar to those attained by moxibustion. It was also shown that the proposed protocols were more effective than moxibustion for transferring heat effects into deep tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yonsei University, Republic of Korea. tac7760@gmail.com
authors.forename: Hyoun-Seok
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Myoung
authors.forename: Jin-Sung
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sung-Pil
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jeon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ho-Seon
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Kyoung-Joung
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006361:Heating / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D009071:Moxibustion / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011846:Radio Waves; D012881:Skin Temperature / Q000502:physiology*; D013552:Swine; D013817:Thermography / Q000295:instrumentation*