Heat Treatment of an Enlarged Prostate
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Abstract
An enlarged prostate, known in the medical field as either benign prostate hyperplasia or benign prostate hypertrophy, is a common affliction among older men, resulting in a difficulty in urination. The condition is also dangerous because it can lead to infections of the kidney and bladder. A stent, made up of a shape memory alloy, such as nitinol, inserted in the urethra can serve as a means to rectify the problem ? the stent can deliver heat to the prostate, killing the obtrusive tissue. The goal of this simulation is to determine the time and power required to heat the stent to a point where a sufficient amount of inflamed tissue is killed while maintaining healthy tissue. Using GAMBIT to establish the geometry of the prostate and surrounding tissue, FIDAP can be implemented to solve the heating of the prostate by the stent. Temperature and damage profiles can be obtained to determine the appropriate wattage application and time for the procedure. We determined that the optimal way of heating was to use a lower heat flux for a longer time.