Analytical Solutions to the Problem of Transient Heat Transfer in Living Tissue

Abstract

An analytical model of transient heat transfer in living biological tissue is considered. The model includes storage, generation, conduction, and convective transport of heat in the tissue. Solutions for rectangular and cylindrical coordinates are presented and discussed. Transient times for reaching the “locally fully developed” temperature profile were found to be of the order of 5–25 min. These transients are dominated by a geometrical parameter and, to a lesser extent, by a parameter representing the ratio of heat supplied by blood flow to heat conducted in the tissue.