title: Simulation of radiofrequency ablation in real human anatomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the current work was to simulate radiofrequency ablation treatment in computational models with realistic human anatomy, in order to investigate the effect of realistic geometry in the treatment outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  The body sites considered in the study were liver, lung and kidney. One numerical model for each body site was obtained from Duke, member of the IT'IS Virtual Family. A spherical tumour was embedded in each model and a single electrode was inserted into the tumour. The same excitation voltage was used in all cases to underline the differences in the resulting temperature rise, due to different anatomy at each body site investigated. The same numerical calculations were performed for a two-compartment model of the tissue geometry, as well as with the use of an analytical approximation for a single tissue compartment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) therapy appears efficient for tumours in liver and lung, but less efficient in kidney. Moreover, the time evolution of temperature for a realistic geometry differs from that for a two-compartment model, but even more for an infinite homogenous tissue model. However, it appears that the most critical parameters of computational models for RFA treatment planning are tissue properties rather than tissue geometry.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Computational simulations of realistic anatomy models show that the conventional technique of a single electrode inside the tumour volume requires a careful choice of both the excitation voltage and treatment time in order to achieve effective treatment, since the ablation zone differs considerably for various body sites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki , GR-54124 Thessaloniki , Greece.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zorbas
authors.forename: Theodoros
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Samaras
mesh_terms: D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D008953:Models, Anatomic
keywords: Arrhenius model; finite difference; pennes bioheat equation; radiofrequency ablation