Heat transfer computations in an intravascular tumoral region for magnetic hyperthermia

In the magnetic hyperthermia, the analytical heat transfer computations within a tumoral tissue (with intravascular structure) are essential for the optimization of the hyperthermia treatment planning. The magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) distribution after their injection depends on the vascularization of the malignant tissue. This paper analyzes the influence of the intravascular structure on the therapeutic temperature field within a malignant tissue. An analytical model which considers the ferrofluid transport, the spatial MNP distribution and heat transfer was developed in this paper. The temperature field given by the MNP heating as thermal sources (when an alternating electromagnetic field was applied) was analyzed for different values of the magnetic field parameters (frequency, amplitude), intravascular tumor and MNP characteristics. The therapeutic temperature field and thermal damage of the malignant tissue depends strongly on the tumor tissue vascularization and the needle size used for the delivery of the ferrofluid within tumor. The temperature values within tumor volume decrease with the increase in the radius of the needle. Small percentage of the tumor volume can be thermally destroyed at low hydraulic conductivities due to low ferrofluid transmission through microvascular walls.