Boundary Element solution of electromagnetic and bioheat equations for the simulation of SAR and temperature increase in biological tissues

This paper focuses on the estimation of the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) and temperature increase within an irradiated human body, starting from known values of the electric and magnetic fields around the body. The proposed approach, based on the Boundary Element Method (BEM) for the solution of the integrated electromagnetic/thermal problem, uses SAR values provided by the electromagnetic solution as input for the bioheat equation which includes the effects of the metabolic heat and of the blood flow. The validity of the BEM approach is proved in the analysis of a simplified human model by comparison with the results given by a different numerical method.