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Purpose - This paper aims to develop and describe an improved process for determining the rate of heat generation in living tissue. Design/methodology/approach - Previous work by the authors on solving the bioheat equation has been updated to include a new localized meshless method which will create a more robust and computationally efficient technique. Inclusion of this technique will allow for the solution of more complex and realistic geometries, which are typical of living tissue. Additionally, the unknown heat generation rates are found through genetic algorithm optimization. Findings - The localized technique showed superior accuracy and significant savings in memory and processor time. The computational efficiency of the newly proposed meshless solver allows the optimization process to be carried to a higher level, leading to more accurate solutions for the inverse technique. Several example cases are presented to demonstrate these conclusions. Research limitations/implications - This work includes only 2D development of the approach, while any realistic modeling for patient-specific cases would be inherently 3D. The extension to 3D, as well as studies to improve the technique by decreasing the sensitivity to measurement noise and to incorporate non-invasive measurement positioning, are under way. Practical implications - As medical imaging continuously improves, such techniques may prove useful in patient diagonosis, as heat generation can be correlated to the presence of tumors, infections, or other conditions. Originality/value - This paper describes a new application of meshless methods. Such methods are becoming attractive due to their decreased pre-processing requirements, especially for problems involving complex geometries (such as patient specific tissues), as well as optimization problems, where geometries may be constantly changing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]