Abstract

LUNA, José Manuel; HERNANDEZ GUERRERO, Abel; ROMERO MENDEZ, Ricardo  and  LUVIANO ORTIZ, José Luis. Solution of the Inverse Bio-Heat Transfer Problem for a Simplified Dermatological Application: Case of Skin Cancer. Ingenier. mecáni. tecnolog. desarroll [online]. 2014, vol.4, n.6, pp.219-228. ISSN 1665-7381.

In this investigation, a numerical procedure, based on the Boundary Element Method coupled with the Simulated Annealing technique, has been used for estimating thermo-physical and geometrical parameters of very small hypothetical skin tumors using a surface temperature profile. For this, it was assumed that the thermo-physics of the yet-to-be detected cancerous lesion is described by Pennes' model with homogeneous perfusion and metabolism before necrosis. Several results are presented for tumors of Clark levels II-IV to illustrate the generality of the methodology. Different levels of noise have been imposed in the temperature fields obtained in the direct problem in order to simulate the input experimental temperature fields. The bio-heat transfer model has been solved in steady state simulating a state of extremely rest, which is the condition of a patient during a clinical trial.

Keywords : Boundary element method; simulated annealing; inverse heat transfer problem; bio-heat transfer; skin cancer.