# HYPERTHERMIA:  ESTIMATION OF COMPLETE TEMPERATURE FIELDS

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 1987 · $88,661

## Abstract

The objective of a hyperthermia treatment is to raise all parts of a tumor
to therapeutic temperatures.  Since instrumentation currently available to
the clinic is invasive, temperatures are measured only at a limited number
of points.  Thus, the temperatures in the majority of a treated tumor are
unmeasured and unknown.  This lack of knowledge makes it impossible to
perform complete therapy evaluations and to perform proper therapy
control.  This problem will remain inherent in hyperthermia treatments
until a method exists which can predict the unknown tumor (and normal
tissue) temperatures from the measured temperatures.  Simple curve-fitting
techniques will not suffice in general since they have no physical basis
and will not be able to accurately predict unmeasured temperatures which
are higher or lower than those measured.  To do this a model which
describes the physical processes in the treatment is needed.  We propose to
utilize state and parameter estimation techniques to estimate the complete
temperature field from knowledge of measured temperatures at a few
locations.  The approach will use optimization methods to minimize the
difference between the measured temperatures and temperatures predicted for
those same locations by a bio-heat transfer equation model of the heated
region.  Minimization will be done by adjusting the model's tissue blood
perfusion parameters until a solution is reached.  Since all other
quantities (power deposition, anatomy, thermal properties) will be able to
be determined sufficiently well, a priori, blood perfusion is the major
unknown to iterate.

The specific algorithms developed will be evaluated by testing their
accuracy when used on other clinical data and on data obtained from
mathematical simulations of hyperthermia treatments.  These simulations
will be performed using both a standard bio-heat transfer equation model of
the tissue being treated as well as more complex simulations which include
large blood vessel effects.  Sensitivity analyses of the algorithms will be
performed to determine the influence of the model parameters on the
predicted results, for both steady-state and transient conditions.
Comparative evaluations (accuracy and speed of convergence) will be
performed for different minimization methods to determine the best approach
to this problem.

The successful accomplishment of these goals will allow (1) complete
temperature fields to be predicted from measured clinical temperatures and
(2) complete, systematic treatment evaluations to be performed based on
pertinent thermal dose computations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3173987
- **Project number:** 5R01CA036428-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **SAM.gov UEI:** ED44Y3W6P7B9
- **Principal Investigator:** Robert Roemer
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1987
- **Award amount:** $88,661
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1985-09-05 → 1988-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3173987

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3173987, HYPERTHERMIA:  ESTIMATION OF COMPLETE TEMPERATURE FIELDS (5R01CA036428-03). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3173987. Licensed CC0.

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