RADIO FREQUENCY HEATING OF IMPLANTED TISSUE ENGINEERED SCAFFOLDS: SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

Heat can be potentially used for accelerating biodegradation of implanted tissue engineered scaffolds. Cyclic and continuous radio frequency (RF) heating was applied to implanted chitosan and alginate scaffolds at 4 applied voltages, 3 frequencies, and 2 thermally conditioning environments. A 3D finite element model was developed to simulate the RF treatment. A uniform RF heating was achieved at the scaffold top. For alginate, voltage was the only significant RF heating factor while both frequency and voltage significantly affected RF heating of chitosan. Less temperature gradient across the scaffold was achieved at a conditioning environment at <30 °C. Surrounding tissue was insignificantly affected by RF heating of scaffolds.