Temperature distributions induced in pig tissues by a water-cooled disk electrode rf system.

Thermal dosimetry is one of the most challenging and necessary aspects of therapeutic hyperthermia. Treatment optimization and assessment of efficacy of the therapy can only be achieved by a quantification of the thermal distributions in normal and malignant tissue induced by specific configurations of heat sources. Radial and axial temperature distributions induced in normal porcine tissues by a pair of disk-shaped direct contact electrodes operating at 0.5 MHz are presented in this communication. Temperature increments induced in the skin, adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle tissue are correlated with the magnitude of the incident power density for various sizes of circular electrodes. The observed thermal distributions very likely relate to the heterogeneous thermal and electrical properties of these tissues.