Simulating Energy-Tissue Interactions for Improved Patient Outcomes

Casey Ladtkow and Arlen Ward, COVIDIEN EBD

With a goal toward advancing research and technology development for electrosurgery, vessel sealing, and tumor ablation, engineers at Covidien EbD employ computer simulations to describe the interaction between highly coupled physical effects where the application of energy changes tissue properties. According to Arlen Ward, a senior R&D Engineer at Covidien EbD, the simulations are used for understanding these complex interactions, demonstrating these effects to others both inside and outside the company, reducing prototyping costs, and investigating tighter energy control and subtle tissue effects. To this end, he and his colleagues have been using COMSOL Multiphysics.