Specific heat capacity of freshly excised prostate specimens

The specific heat capacity of tissue is a critical parameter for thermal therapies that act over a long period of time. It is also critical for thermoacoustic signal generation. We present ex vivo measurements of specific heat capacity performed by a dual-pin probe with tight temperature control of the specimen. One 30 mm × 1.28 mm probe heats steadily for 30 s, while another measurement probe measures temperatures 6 mm away from the center of the heater probe. Specific heat values ranging from 2.9 to 4 J cm(-3) °C(-1) were measured on 20 lobes from ten fresh prostate specimens with varying degrees of cancerous involvement as confirmed by histology.