Numerical Analysis of Temperature Distribution in Ellipsoidal Tumors in Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia

The goal of the present work is to examine via computer simulations how the shape of a tumor, deviating from ideal spherical to an ellipsoidal one, affects the temperature distribution inside the tumor and on its surface, during magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH). The temperature distribution is modeled using the Pennes bio-heat equation. The magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are assumed to be homogeneously distributed throughout the cancerous region. The analysis is quantified in terms of the tumor sphericity, a morphological descriptor that describes how far the assumed tumor shape diverges from that of a perfect sphere. The results indicate that, under the same heating conditions, tumors with low sphericity diffuse temperature to the surrounding healthy tissue in a non-uniform manner, which suggests that ellipsoidal tumors may be more difficult to treat clinically as compared to ideally spherical ones.