Comparative analysis of dynamic thermal fields and tissue damage during radiofrequency ablation of cancerous tissues

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is enunciated to ablate various cancerous tissues by heating technique. This study presents a comparative computational study of four organ tissues (liver, heart, lung, and kidney) to evaluate dynamic thermal fields and tissue damage within a 2-D geometrical domain including healthy and tumorous vicinities. Three contact forces of 15g, 25g, and 40g are applied at the electrode under uniform conditions (70 V, 30 s), and the Arrhenius model is appointed to quantify thermal injury. The coupled nonlinear electro-thermal equations are solved using the finite element method (FEM) with appropriate electrical and thermal boundary settings. Results indicate that the lung, due to its low density, undergoes the greatest deformation (8.71987 % in tumor and 10.88167 % in healthy tissue greater than the other organs on average), yielding the largest electrode-tissue contact area, However, this expanded interface promotes a heat sink effect, leading to reduced local heating. In contrast, the liver benefits from the highest Joule heating deposition and lowest specific heat, producing the greatest temperature rise (11.49866 % higher than the other organs on average). Heart and kidney tissues exhibit poor thermal confinement due to their high heat capacities, which restrict expansion of the 50 °C isothermal contour. Damage analysis exposes that the lung shows the highest Arrhenius damage rate (0.39774 s^-1), driving rapid tumor necrosis but also extensive healthy tissue injury. Conversely, the heart (0.12985 s^-1) and the kidney (0.09589 s^-1) exhibit low damage rates, resulting in insufficient tumor ablation. The liver demonstrates the most favorable balance, achieving complete tumor cell death with minimal healthy tissue loss at a peak damage rate of 0.32995 s^-1. These findings highlight organ-specific mechanical, thermal, and damage dynamics in RFA, offering insights for optimizing treatment efficiency while minimizing off-target injury.