Reconstruction of thermal property distributions of tissue phantoms from temperature measurements--thermal conductivity, thermal capacity and thermal diffusivity.

Abstract:  We report robust noninvasive techniques for reconstructing the thermal properties of living tissues, such as thermal conductivity, thermal capacity and thermal diffusivity, for the diagnosis, monitoring and planning of thermal treatments. Internal temperature distributions can be measured using ultrasonic imaging or magnetic resonance imaging. Provided that the reference thermal properties are given in the region of interest as initial conditions, by solving bioheat transfer equations as simultaneous first-order partial differential equations having temperature distributions as inhomogeneous coefficients, we can determine thermal property distributions. A novel regularized numerical solution is also presented to realize useful, unique, stable reconstructions of the thermal property distributions. To verify the feasibility of the numerical solution, simulations and ultrasonic phantom experiments are conducted. The reconstruction of perfusion by blood flow and thermal source/sink by this approach is also addressed.