Computational Model of Breast Tissue with a Lesion defined by a Thermal Gradient

This work proposes the construction of a computational model of breast tissue based on the finite element method for the simulation of thermal gradients related to internal lesions according to the phenomenon of pathological angiogenesis. The objective to develop this model is to provide a tool to be taken into account when testing on real tissue is not possible or on early stages of research works. A review was made in the literature on the anatomy of breast tissue in order to obtain information on the actual dimensions of the main structures of this tissue such as lobes, lobules, fat and ducts. From this information, two breast tissue configurations were implemented considering different dimensions and types of lobes. The bioheating equation was used for the generation of the thermal gradient. As a result, a geometric model of breast tissue was obtained considering the main anatomical structures and an internal lesion associated to a thermal gradient.