Numerical Study on the Effect of Blood Flow and Tissue Characteristics on Freezing Front Propagation during Cryosurgery

摘要

Cryosurgery is a surgical procedure in which the malign or benign tumors are destroyed by application of cold. Heat transfer during cryosurgery is a complex phenomenon involving phase change and is affected by blood flow dynamics and thermophysical properties of tissue. In this paper we present heat transfer modeling and simulation studies by incorporating the temperature dependence of the blood flow, and blood and tissue properties and effect of metabolic heat generation on heat transfer process. We have also considered the heat transfer inside the cryoprobe tip to set the boundary conditions for the freezing front propagation studies. The simulation results will be useful for better understanding of the heat transfer process in blood perfused tissues during cryosurgery and in designing cryosurgical devices.