THE INFLUENCE OF VASCULATURE ON TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTIONS IN MECS INTERSTITIAL HYPERTHERMIA - IMPORTANCE OF LONGITUDINAL CONTROL

The quality of temperature distributions that an be generated with the Multi Electrode Current Source (MECS) interstitial hyperthermia (IHT) system, which allows 3D control of the temperature distribution, has been investigated. For the investigations, computer models of idealise d anatomies containing discrete vessels, were used. A 7-catheter hexag onal implant geometry with a nearest neighbour distance of 15 mm was u sed. In each interstitial catheter with a diameter of 2.1 mm a number of 1 up to 4 electrodes were placed along an 'active section' with a l ength of 50 mm. The electrode segments had lengths of 50, 20, 12 and 9 mm respectively. Both single vessel and vessel network situations wer e analysed. This study shows that even in situations with discrete vas culature and perfusion heterogeneity it remains possible to obtain sat isfactory temperature distributions with the MECS IHT system. Due to i ts 3D spatial control the temperature homogeneity in the implant can b e made quite satisfactory.