Integral transform solution to the endometrial ablation problem

• Autor(a) principal: Presgrave,A. V.
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Guedes,R. O. C., Scofano Neto,F.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1678-58782009000200004
• topic: bioheat transfer; integral transform; endometrial ablation

Menorrhagia is an ailment experienced by a significant number of women during their reproductive years. This condition is associated to heavy menstrual bleeding and while medical treatments are possible, its effects are quite limited. Surgical procedures often employ a hysterectomy but the total removal of the uterus involves high costs and also sometimes a moderate health hazard. Less invasive treatments were devised, and over the years a technique called endometrial ablation has become increasingly popular especially in the United States and in Europe. This treatment removes the endometrium by inserting a latex balloon filled with a solution at a high temperature inside the uterine cavity. Therefore, in order to assess the effectiveness of this treatment, accurate predictions of the temperature field are needed. The present contribution addresses this thermal problem and adopts the Pennes' bioheat transfer equation to mathematically determine the transient temperature distribution across the uterus wall by employing finite integral transforms. Special focus is given to situations in which the temperature of the fluid inside the balloon is no longer constant and may impair the effectiveness of the treatment. On general terms, it was found that the temperature distribution is strongly dependent on the perfusion coefficient and is also significantly affected by the rate of the decay of the fluid temperature inside the balloon.