Measurement of the specific heat capacity of liver phantom.

Phantoms are often used to simulate tissue during the development, testing and calibration of medical devices. In order to infer the specific absorption rate (SAR) and resistive heating in phantoms from temperature measurements, the specific heat capacity and density of the phantom are needed. Stauffer et al (2003 Int. J. Hyperth. 19 89-101) developed several phantoms that mimic dielectric properties of liver tissue at 915 MHz. However, thermal properties of the phantoms were not presented. We have measured specific heat capacities and densities for these phantoms. We also present dielectric properties for these phantoms measured from 0.7 to 20 GHz, including 2.45 GHz--a commonly used frequency for microwave hyperthermia and ablation.