Measurement of Temperature Dependent Apparent Specific Heat Capacity in Electrosurgery.

This paper reports on the measurement of temperature dependent apparent specific heat of ex-vivo porcine liver tissue during radiofrequency alternating current heating for a large temperature range. The difference between spatial and temporal evolution of experimental temperature, obtained during electrosurgical heating by infrared thermometry, and predictions based on finite element modeling was minimized to obtain the apparent specific heat. The model was based on transient heat transfer with internal heat generation considering heat storage along with conduction. Such measurements are important to develop computational models for real time simulation of electrosurgical procedures.