Vascular Structure Model for Improved Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer in Human Tissue

A new algorithm for construction of artificial blood vessel networks and a new approach to simulate heat exchange in tissue are presented. The algorithm produces discrete three-dimensional geometric representations of both arterial and venous networks. The key feature of the algorithm is that growth begins from the root points and it can work with any enclosed geometry. Unlike traditional schemes where heat exchange is calculated between vessels and cells, we consider that heat exchange between blood and tissue as well as the metabolic process happens mainly in capillary. The motivation of this paper is development of realistic vascular structure and simulation of the blood perfusion in tissue. It is needed for precise thermal analysis using the modified bio-heat equation to provide better prediction of thermal response of tissues exposed to RF energy.