Biological and Physical Principles and Applications of Electromagnetic
Medical Devices
BAO Jia-li
Research Group of Biophysics and Medical
Engineering, Zhejiang Provincial Key
Laboratory of Bioelectromagnetics, School
of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou
Zhejiang 310058, China
Abstract：Electromagnetic medical devices refer to a category of equipment used for medical diagnosis
and treatment by utilizing electric field, magnetic field, or electromagnetic field. Electromagnetic
biological effects including the thermal effects and non-thermal effectsare the main principle and the bases of assessment for innovative electromagnetic medical devices. Physical factors influencing the
biological effects include electromagnetic energy as well as permittivity and permeability of organisms.
Thermal effects are evidenced by temperature rise. The cells do not suffer from obvious injury, such
as the reversible and/or irreversible damage injury caused by the process of coagulation, drying,
carbonization or vaporization, which make it able to be applied in high-frequency therapy, microwave
tumor therapy, radiofrequency ablation, electric surgery, etc. Non-thermal effects is evidenced by biochemical and physiological response in the molecules, cells, tissues, organs and body with no
temperature rise in the organism when exposed to the electromagnetic field, which can be applied to
pacemakers, heart defibrillation, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, and so on. In recent years,
research has carried out in both the basic principles and equipment of electromagnetic medical devices.
Some electromagnetic medical devices were developed, such as electromagnetic-phoresis apparatuses,
transdermal drug delivery, and irreversible electroporation tumor therapy. Effective means of safety
control of electromagnetic medical device is to establish the electromagnetic limit standard and to
implement according to the standard based on human physiological integrity.
包家立. 电磁医疗设备的生物物理基础与应用[J]. 中国医疗设备, 2016, 31(4): 6-13.
BAO Jia-li. Biological and Physical Principles and Applications of Electromagnetic
Medical Devices. China Medical Devices, 2016, 31(4): 6-13.
