Analytical solution of three-dimensional temperature field for skin tissue considering blood perfusion rates under laser irradiation and thermal damage analysis

Abstract

An analytical solution of the three-dimensional transient temperature distribution for skin tissue when heated by a laser heat source is presented in this work. An equation for the three-dimensional bioheat transfer of skin tissue is obtained firstly, and the transient temperature value at any point inside the skin tissue can be solved using the separation variable method and the Newton-Cotes method. Previous research primarily focused on semi-infinite domains, while this work presents an analytical solution for finite domains. A comparison of present analytical solution with simulation software results and numerical solution is given to demonstrate the feasibility of the analytical solution. The three-dimensional temperature distribution of skin tissue irradiated by a laser is theoretically studied. The extent of thermal damage to skin tissue is assessed by substituting the analytical solution of the temperature field for laser-irradiated skin tissue into the thermal damage equation. The calculations in this work reveal that the variation of temperature field in biological tissues is dependent not only on the laser incident light intensity and the optical parameters of the tissues but also on the heat transfer properties of the biological tissues, such as the blood perfusion rates.