Wideband modelling of the dielectric properties of muscle as a function of hydration

Abstract

This paper presents a wideband model for the dielectric properties of muscle as a function of hydration. The developed model utilizes Brugemann’s mixture equation, assuming that muscle can be decomposed into two media, the host and inclusion media. The latter mainly consists of dry tissue while the former is a physiological solution, mixed at experimentally determined ratios. Different wideband models (Debye, Cole-Cole, Cole-Davidson four-pole polynomials were considered to accurately model the dielectric properties of both the host and inclusion media. The best model was then coupled with Bruggeman’s equation to accurately predict the permittivity and conductivity of rat muscles at different hydration states from 500 MHz to 50 GHz. This method can be easily incorporated into the computational analysis, as such, when simulating electromagnetic heating phenomena in medical applications. Hence, changes as a result of vaporization due to microwave ablation procedure can be predicted.