In recent years, the utilization of electromagnetic wave in various applications is increasing rapidly because of its advantages. There is concern about the human health due to electromagnetic wave because it can damage human tissue by damaging molecular structure which is interacted with this electromagnetic wave. In this study, the 2-D computational analysis is used to study the distribution of the specific absorption rate (SAR) and temperature on organs in human body exposed to electromagnetic wave which are propagated from source in Transverse Electric mode (TE mode) and Transverse Magnetic mode (TM mode). The mathematical models consist of a coupled electromagnetic wave equation and bioheat equation. In numerical simulation, these coupled mathematical models are solved by using a finite element method (FEM) with thermal and dielectric properties to describe SAR and temperature distributions in the human body. The effects of wave propagation mode, operating frequency, radiated power of electromagnetic wave and exposure time are systematically investigated. This study focuses attention on organs in the human trunk. It is found that the maximum SAR on organs exposed to electromagnetic wave which are propagated in TM mode is higher than that of TE mode for all organs and frequencies of electromagnetic wave. The electromagnetic wave at the frequency of 300 MHz propagated in TM mode is the most significant exposure condition to produce the maximum SAR and temperature increase in fat. Moreover, the maximum SAR and temperature increase are proportional to the power of heating source. The lower frequency of electromagnetic wave has an ability to penetrate through the human body deeper than that of the high frequency. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.