INTERSTITIAL HEATING - EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIALLY PERFUSED BOVINE TONGUES

Isolated perfused bovine tongues were heated with a 2 x 2 hot water tube interstitial hyperthermia system (tube outer diameter 2.0 mm, spacing 16 mm). Tongue blood flow ranged between 0 and 17 ml min-1/100 g. The temperature distribution was mapped with 5 to 8 single thermocouples (diameter 50-mu-m). Model predictions using both the conventional bioheat transfer equation and the effective conductivity model were compared to the experimental results, with emphasis on the role of blood flow. Results indicate a better qualitative agreement with the k-effective model than with the heat sink model. In this set up a 16 mm spacing proved sufficient for adequate heating between the needles at normal blood flow rates, in the absence of large vessels.