Abstract

Hyperthermia based cancer treatments are used to increase the susceptibility of cancerous tissue to subsequent radiation or chemotherapy treatments, and in the case in which a tumor exists as a well-defined region, higher intensity heat sources may be used to ablate the tissue. Utilizing the guidance of real-time treatment data while applying a laser heat source has the potential to provide unprecedented control over the outcome of the treatment process 6,12. The goals of this work are to provide a working snapshot of the current system architecture developed to provide a real-time finite element solution of the problems of calibration, optimal heat source control, and goal-oriented error estimation applied the equations of bioheat transfer and demonstrate that current finite element technology, parallel computer architecture, peer-to-peer data transfer infrastructure, and thermal imaging modalities are capable of inducing a precise computer controlled temperature field within the biological domain. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.