COMPUTER SOFTWARE FOR HYPERTHERMIA TREATMENTS

STRONG EVIDENCE EXISTS THAT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES, IN THE RANGE OF 42 TO 45 DEGREES(C) (HYPERTHERMIA), ARE AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE DESTRUCTION OF CANCER CELLS, ESPECIALLY WHEN COMBINED WITH RADIATION THERAPY AND CHEMOTHERAPY. PRODUCING A CONTROLLED-TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION OF A GIVEN MAGNITUDE IS CRITICAL TO THE SUCCESS OF HYPERTHERMIA TREATMENT. RECENT ADVANCES IN COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY HAVE MADE NUMERICAL MODELING OF HYPERTHERMIA TREATMENT A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE FOR PREDICTING THE TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION IN TISSUE. CREARE, INC. PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AND TEST A THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER MODEL FOR QUANTITATIVE THERMAL DOSIMETRY TO BE USED IN HYPERTHERMIA TREATMENTS. BASED ON THE SPECIFIED ANATOMY OF THE PATIENT AND THE CHARACTERISTICSOF THE HEATING DEVICE, A COMPUTER PROGRAM WILL PREDICT POWERDEPOSITION AND TEMPERATURE FIELDS IN THE TISSUE. THE CALCULATED RESULTS WILL BE DISPLAYED INTERACTIVELY IN GRAPHIC AND ALPHANUMERIC FORM. THE DEVELOPED SOFTWARE WILL BE A POWERFUL TOOL FOR PATIENT TREATMENT PLANNING, DESIGN & TESTING OF EQUIPMENT, POSTTREATMENT EVALUATION, AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. IN PHASE I, SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE COMPUTER MODEL OF HYPERTHERMIA TREATMENT WILL BE DEVELOPED. IN ADDITION, A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR CALCULATING POWER DEPOSITION IN REALISTIC TWO-DIMENSIONAL GEOMETRIES WILL BE IMPLEMENTED.