Finite element model to study the thermal effect of tumors in dermal regions of irregular tapered shaped human limbs

• A three dimensional finite element model to study the thermal effect of tumors in dermal layers of a human limb is proposed.
• The irregular tapered shape of a human limb is modeled.
• The effect of the metastasis of tumors in dermal layers of irregular tapered shaped human limb is analyzed.

The present study deals with the temperature variation in dermal layers of irregular tapered shaped human limb involving metastasis of tumors. Two uniformly perfused tumors are assumed to be present at different axial and angular positions of the dermal regions of the human limb. The model incorporates the effect of blood mass flow rate, metabolic activity and thermal conductivity in different tissue layers. The self controlled and uncontrolled rates of metabolic heat generation are incorporated respectively for the normal and malignant tissues. Appropriate boundary conditions have been incorporated based on the physical conditions of the problem. The appropriate variations in biophysical parameters are also incorporated in the model. The finite element method has been employed for the solution. The numerical results have been used to analyze the thermal effect of metastasis of tumors on temperature distribution in dermal regions of human limbs. The thermal information generated from the numerical results can be useful for clinical applications.