Non-destructive estimation of temperature field during laser-induced tumor hyperthermia based on Kalman filtering

Laser-induced thermal therapy (LITT) is an emerging minimally invasive treatment technique for tumors. Non-destructive acquisition of the transient temperature field in the target tissue is a key in studying and developing LITT technology. In this paper, a non-destructive temperature field estimation scheme based on Kalman filtering theory is proposed to address the challenge of temperature field monitoring during the LITT process. This scheme establishes a state space model that corresponds to the fundamental equations of heat transfer in biological tissues. Subsequently, the real-time estimation of the transient temperature field within the target tissue is conducted by integrating the temperature observations on the surface of the tissue with the state space model of heat transfer in biological tissues and the Kalman filtering theory. Numerical experiments are conducted in this study to estimate the transient temperature field inside the target tissue during the therapy of LITT. The effect of the number of temperature observation points on the surface of the target tissue, laser irradiation conditions, and measurement noise on the estimation results of the transient temperature field within the target tissue is also discussed. •A non-destructive temperature field estimation scheme for LITT based on Kalman filtering is proposed.•A state space model is established for the target tissue during the LITT process.•The scheme enables the estimation of the transient temperature field by utilizing the temperature on the surface of tissue.