Numerical investigation of a thermal ablation porous media-based model for tumoral tissue with variable porosity

Thermal ablation is a minimally or noninvasive cancer therapy technique that involves fewer complications, shorter hospital stays, and fewer costs. In this paper, a thermal-ablation bioheat model for cancer treatment is numerically investigated, using a porous media-based model. The main objective is to evaluate the effects of a variable blood volume fraction in the tumoral tissue (i.e., the porosity), in order to develop a more realistic model. A modified local thermal nonequilibrium model (LTNE) is implemented including the water content vaporization in the two phases separately and introducing the variable porosity in the domain, described by a quadratic function changing from the core to the rim of the tumoral sphere. The equations are numerically solved employing the finite-element commercial code COMSOL Multiphysics. Results are compared with the results obtained employing two uniform porosity values (ε = 0.07 and ε = 0.23) in terms of coagulation zones at the end of the heating period, maximum temperatures reached in the domain, and temperature fields and they are presented for different blood vessels. The outcomes highlight how important is to predict coagulation zones achieved in thermal ablation accurately. In this way, indeed, incomplete ablation, tumor recurrence, or healthy tissue necrosis can be avoided, and medical protocols and devices can be improved.