Laura Farina laura.farina@nuigalway.ie
Description: Two studies have been conducted during this STSM using a commercial thermal properties device: thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and volumetric heat capacity were investigated.
Study 1: thermal properties of phantoms currently used in Erasmus MC for performance evaluation of clinically used hyperthermia devices were characterised. The phantoms were prepared and thermal properties measurements were regularly conducted over 10 days. Results showed that the thermal properties of the phantoms are within the range of biological tissue, at room temperature; thus, the phantoms are suitable for the evaluation of the performance of hyperthermia device and for the simulation of clinical scenarios, from a thermal point of view.
Study 2: a sensitivity study of the commercial dual-needle thermal sensor was performed using one of the phantoms. The dual-needle sensor allows to measure the three thermal properties simultaneously. The system’s manual recommend to “allow a minimum of 15mm of material parallel to the sensor in all directions to avoid errors”, but some samples of interest for the community, such as small glands or tissue obtained from pathology, could be smaller. Results showed that at least 4mm of material should be guaranteed in any direction parallel to the sensor to ensure correct measurements.
The results have been published here: Thermal Characterization of Phantoms Used for Quality Assurance of Deep Hyperthermia Systems
Authors: Laura Farina, Kemal Sumser, Gerard van Rhoon and Sergio Curto
Sensors 2020, 20(16), 4549; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20164549“[FF1]
