Investigation, Modeling, and Simulation of Radiofrequency Ablation Systems with Finite Element Method for Varicose Vein Treatment

Abstract

The modern thermal method of a treatment process for varicose veins (VV) is radiofrequency ablation (RFA) which is extremely prevalent. VV impairs quality of life, and RFA may be used to treat VV. This technology has been used widely recently for treating VV. The finite element method (FEM) plays an important role in performing interactive simulations of biological systems. FEM requires complex geometries to be computed that cannot be solved by analytical techniques. Therefore, Bio-Heat equations are formulated and used based on FEM. It is very suitable for the efficient simulation of RFA operations. This paper presents the investigation and simulation of RFA using the application of FEM Multiphysics regarding the flow of the blood and vein wall for VV treatment accordingly. In this study, a model has been constructed to measure and evaluate the effects of RFA for the vein wall and the blood, and a computer-based simulation is performed to calculate the influence of heat generated from the RFA device on the blood flow. For an effective analysis, a simplified 3D vein geometry is used to measure temperature profiles in the vessel wall and to analyze the thermal properties of flowing blood. Obtained numerical results and simulations can be used as an asset in future studies.