Numerical simulation of moxibustion therapy based on simplified heat transfer model

As a vital index, temperature plays an important role to understand the heat transfer process of the in vivo tissue in moxibustion therapy. Associated with the internal thermal field, temperature changes in local body surface are desired and can be easily obtained clinically. According to the related theories of biological heat transfer, a simplified model was established to describe the heat transfer process of indirect moxibustion therapy. The skin surface temperature distribution was simulated and discussed under different conditions based on this model. The calculated results of the skin surface temperature and the related transient evolution revealed the effect of the stimulus intensity of the moxibustion, the distance from the skin surface to the inner heat source and the type of tissue. Moreover, a clinical implementation of this study to improve the moxibustion effectiveness was proposed.