Thermal conductivity and diffusivity of biomaterials measured with self-heated thermistors

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental method to measure the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of biomaterials. Self-heated thermistor probes, inserted into the tissue of interest, are used to deliver heat as well as to monitor the rate of heat removal. An empirical calibration procedure allows accurate thermal-property measurements over a wide range of tissue temperatures. Operation of the instrument in three media with known thermal properties shows the uncertainty of measurements to be about 2%. The reproducibility is 0.5% for the thermal-conductivity measurements and 2% for the thermal-diffusivity measurements. Thermal properties were measured in dog, pig, rabbit, and human tissues. The tissues included kidney, spleen, liver, brain, heart, lung, pancreas, colon cancer, and breast cancer. Thermal properties were measured for 65 separate tissue samples at 3, 10, 17, 23, 30, 37, and 45°C. The results show that the temperature coefficient of biomaterials approximates that of water.