# HYPERTHERMIA--ESTIMATION OF COMPLETE TEMPERATURE FIELDS

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 1990 · $224,028

## Abstract

The specific goal of this research is to develop a method of
estimating the complete temperature field present in tumors and
their surrounding tissues during clinical hyperthermia treatments.
Since current clinical thermometry is invasive, temperatures are
measured only at a limited number of points, and thus most
temperatures in a tumor are unmeasured and unknown.  This lack
of knowledge is a fundamental problem in hyperthermia, which
makes it impossible to perform complete therapy evaluations and
to perform proper therapy control.  This problem will remain until
a method is developed which can predict the unknown tumor and
normal tissue temperatures from the measured temperatures.
Simple curve-fitting techniques will not suffice since they have no
physical basis and are unable to accurately extrapolate data to
predict unmeasured maxima or minima.  To do this, a
mathematical model of the physical processes in the treatment is
needed.  We propose to utilize such a model along with state and
parameter estimation techniques to estimate the complete
temperature field from knowledge of measured temperatures at a
few locations.  The approach uses optimization methods to
minimize the difference between the measured temperatures and
temperatures predicted by a bio-head transfer equation model of
the heated region.  Minimization is done by adjusting the model's
blood perfusion parameters.  The end result is predictions of both
the complete temperature field in the region analyzed, and of the
blood perfusion distribution and magnitude during the treatment.
Our previous work on this problem has shown that the general
approach is quite promising, and the proposed work will extend
those results by:  (1) improving the formulation of the bio-heat
transfer equation, (2) improving the state and parameter
estimation techniques, (3) extending and improving our simulation
programs, (4) testing the results against extensive three
dimensional in vitro and in vivo measurements in both normal and
tumor tissues, and (5) applying the technique to clinical
treatments.  While the specific goal is to develop methods for
predicting complete temperature fields, this study will also have
the general result of improving both (1) knowledge of the
temperature and blood perfusion distributions and fundamental
heat transfer processes occurring in hyperthermia treatments, and
(2) the ability to perform more realistic simulatings of
hyperthermia.  This will be important for all applications of
treatment planning, control and evaluation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3173989
- **Project number:** 5R01CA036428-06
- **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:** 1990
- **Award amount:** $224,028
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1985-09-05 → 1993-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3173989

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3173989, HYPERTHERMIA--ESTIMATION OF COMPLETE TEMPERATURE FIELDS (5R01CA036428-06). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3173989. Licensed CC0.

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