Distant Infusion of Saline May Enlarge Coagulation Volume During Radiofrequency Ablation of Liver Tissue Using Cool-tip Electrodes Without Impairing Predictability

Abstract

Va s c u l a r a n d I nt e r ve nt io n a l R a d io l og y • O r ig i n a l R e s e a rc h WEB This is a Web exclusive article.

Relationship between roll-off occurrence and spatial distribution of dehydrated tissue during RF ablation with cooled electrodes

“…when the area close to the electrode reaches a temperature around 100ºC. This conclusion could provide an explanation for the previous experimental results obtained with a hybrid applicator based on a cool-tip electrode combined with a low-rate interstitial infusion of hypertonic saline at 2 mm from the electrode surface and exactly in the middle zone [6]. To be more precise, the saline infusion at that point could significantly delay roll-off, which could be due to the saline impeding severe tissue desiccation at this point.…”

“…It has been reported that the addition of hypertonic saline perfusion at 2 mm from the electrode surface improves the performance of the cooled electrode by increasing the volume of the coagulation zone obtained from the cooled electrode only [6,7]. This improvement is also associated with a delay in the emergence of roll-off [8].…”

Electrical-thermal performance of a cooled RF applicator for hepatic ablation with additional distant infusion of hypertonic saline:In vivostudy and preliminary computer modeling

“…The results suggested that the hybrid applicator could increase coagulation zone volume without reducing predictability [8]. The current study is a complementary assessment of that study.…”

“…The experimental setup has been previously described in [8]. Briefly, all the RF ablations were conducted with a CC-1 generator (Radionics, Burlington, MA, USA).…”

Bipolar radiofrequency ablation with 2 × 2 electrodes as a building block for matrix radiofrequency ablation:Ex vivoliver experiments and finite element method modelling

“…With current electrodes, large ablation zones can be obtained but their predictability and completeness is problematic. Size and shape of the ablation zone are highly variable and difficult to predict [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] even in the most standardised ex vivo experiments (Table 1). A standard deviation of the ablation diameter, especially the transverse diameter, of 0.5-1 cm is very common (Table 1).…”