Importance of the enhanced cooling system for more spherical ablation zones: Numerical simulation, ex vivo and in vivo validation.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a small-gauge microwave ablation antenna (MWA) with an enhanced cooling system (ECS) for generating more spherical ablation zones.

Methods: A comparison was made between two types of microwave ablation antennas, one with ECS and the other with a conventional cooling system (CCS). The finite element method was used to simulate in vivo ablation.

Dynamic changes in liver volume calculated using a three-dimensional visualisation system after microwave ablation of hepatocellular carcinomas.

Objectives: To investigate the changes in liver volume and function after microwave ablation (MWA) of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs).

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analysed 76 patients with 106 nodules who underwent MWA for HCCs ≤5 cm between January 2015 and September 2017. Liver and ablation volumes were calculated using a three-dimensional visualisation system on MRI.

Fast calculation of 3D radiofrequency ablation zone based on a closed-form solution of heat conduction equation fitted by ex vivo measurements.

Fast calculation or simulation of the ablation zone induced by radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has a critical role in hepatic RFA planning and therapy. However, it remains challenging to approximate the ablation zone in real time, especially when more than one probe is involved in one ablation session. This paper presents a novel computational technique to calculate the 3D ablation zone of one probe RFA and two-probe switching RFA.

Pre-operative Detection of Liver Fibrosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Using 2D Shear Wave Elastography: Where to Measure?

The aim of this study was to pre-operatively investigate the diagnostic performance of 2D shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) for staging liver fibrosis and inflammation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who then undergo surgery and to determine the optimal locations for measurement. In total, 106 patients were enrolled in this prospective study from March 2017 to May 2018. Two-dimensional SWE was used to measure liver stiffness (LS) in each patient 0-1, 1-2 and 2-5 cm from the tumor border (groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively).

An analytical solution for temperature distributions in hepatic radiofrequency ablation incorporating the heat-sink effect of large vessels.

Fast prediction of the local thermal field induced by radiofrequency ablation (RFA) plays a critical role in hepatic RFA therapy. At present, it is still a challenging task to calculate and visualize the temperature distribution of RFA in real-time, especially when the heat-sink effect of adjacent large vessels is taken into account. To achieve this, the current investigation presented an analytical solution to calculate the temperature in RFA with an execution time of 0.

Semiautomatic Radiofrequency Ablation Planning Based on Constrained Clustering Process for Hepatic Tumors.

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is currently one of the most effective methods for minimally invasive treatment of hepatic tumors. Planning the probe placements is an essential and challenging step in RFA treatment. To completely destroy the tumor with minimum amount of affected native tissue, a new RFA planning system is proposed in this paper.