Noninvasive method for simultaneously measuring the thermophysical properties and blood perfusion in cylindrically shaped living tissues.

An easy-to-use noninvasive method was developed to simultaneously measure the thermophysical parameters and blood perfusion in cylindrically shaped living tissues. This method is based on a two-dimensional mathematical model which requires temperature measurements at only three separate points along the axial direction on the cylinder surface. A sensitivity analysis has shown that the key thermophysical parameters, such as the thermal conductivity, volumetric heat capacity, and blood perfusion can be estimated simultaneously with high accuracy. Genetic algorithm (GA) selection, crossover, and mutation operators were developed to solve this multi-parameter optimization problem. This three-point method was validated by measuring the properties of a dynamic tissue-equivalent phantom with known thermal parameters. The method has also been applied to measure the thermophysical parameters and blood perfusion in human forearms with measured results agreeing well with the literature values.