Numerical study on the effect of bifurcation vessel parameters on microwave ablation of lung tissue.

Background: In order to study the effect of bifurcation vessels parameters on the temperature field and coagulation zone of microwave ablation on lung tissue. Methods: The finite element method was used to establish the simulation model. The angle of bifurcation vessel model was 60°. The position of the antenna and the main blood vessel are parallel, and the distance between them was 5, 10 and 15 mm, respectively. Temperature field distribution was obtained at 2450 MHz, 50 W and 300 s. The blood flow velocity was set to 0.1 and 0.2 m/s. Results: The results showed when the antenna was 5 mm away from the bifurcation vessel and the velocity was 0.1 m/s, the position of x = 8.4 mm achieved the complete necrosis at 220 s, while the fraction of necrotic tissue at the symmetry point x = 1.6 mm was 0.2 at 300 s. For the distance was 10 mm and the velocity was 0.1 m/s, the fraction of necrotic tissue at x = 3 mm that near the bifurcation vessel was 0.53 and was 0.69 at the symmetry point x = 17 mm. When the antenna is 15 mm away from the vessel, the fraction of necrotic tissue of symmetrical points on both sides of the antenna obtained after ablation were the same. Conclusions: The distance between the antenna and the bifurcation vessel over 15 mm, the blood flow has no effect on the coagulation zone. Besides, the distance between bifurcation vessel and antenna possesses a greater influence on the temperature distribution and coagulation zone than the blood flow velocity.

Comparison of ablation characteristics of three different radiofrequency applicators in renal sympathetic denervation.

OBJECTIVE: Renal sympathetic denervation (RDN) is an alternative treatment for resistant hypertension (RH). This study aims to compare ablation effects using three radiofrequency applicators (i.e., balloon-based four electrodes, spiral and monopolar devices). METHODS: An idealized three-dimensional model of the renal artery was established using COMSOL Multiphysics to mimic radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Radiofrequency (RF) energy was delivered to the tissue at the same simulation settings, i.e., 4, 6, and 8 W for 60 s, using the three abovementioned RF applicators. The temperature distribution in the tissue was calculated using the coupled electrical-thermal-fluid finite element method. Lesion borders were defined using 50 °C isotherms. The maximum lesion depth, width, area, and circumferential coverage rate were compared among the three applicators at a blood flow of 0.4 m/s. Monopolar RF ablations in a renal artery phantom model were performed to validate the reliability of the simulation method. RESULTS: The balloon-based system yields greater lesion depths and widths compared with spiral and monopolar denervation under the same power. The range of maximum lesion depth is 1.58-3.11 mm for balloon-based RDN, 0.90-1.81 mm for spiral RDN and 1.12-2.38 mm for monopolar RDN, at a power of 4-8 W. The corresponding ranges of maximum lesion width are 2.22-5.73, 1.48-3.54, and 1.93-5.31 mm, respectively, and the circumferential coverage rates of the renal artery are 41.43%-91.99%, 31.71%-66.23%, and 9.55%-23.06%, respectively. The average velocity after balloon-based, spiral, and monopolar RDN increases by 3, 5, and 1 cm/s, respectively. The validation of the computer model offered prediction errors are <5% in terms of temperature at different locations (i.e., 2, 4, and 8 mm). CONCLUSIONS: In terms of lesion size, balloon-based RDN appears to be the best option for the treatment of RH. However, the change in flow velocity in the arterial flow field suggests that its hemodynamic changes must be prioritized for investigating its safety. Although spiral catheter ablation yields the smallest lesion size and a significant change in flow velocity in the flow field, its coverage rate is larger than that of monopolar RDN; compared with balloon-based RDN, it did not obstruct most of the blood flow.

Evaluating the thermal performance of a balloon-based renal sympathetic denervation system with array electrodes: a finite element study.

Renal denervation transmits radiofrequency (RF) energy through an electrode to treat resistant hypertension (RH), applying ablation in the renal artery. Several experimental studies have shown that this treatment has been used effectively to treat RH. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of ablation parameters (i.e., electrode length, applied voltage, ablation time, and blood flow) on the temperature distribution using a balloon-based array electrodes system. A simplified three-dimensional model including four electrodes and a balloon was established. The balloon diameter was 3 mm and placed in a 5 mm diameter renal artery for forming intra-arterial occlusion. Four electrodes were mounted on the balloon and distributed in the same plane to mimic circumferential RF ablation. Computer simulations were conducted to investigate the thermal performances of the device by setting different electrode configurations, treatment protocols, and physiological factors. The thermal performances including the thermal distribution, maximum lesion depth, length, and area were analyzed. The lesion shape of the array RF electrodes was approximately a sphere with a 100% circumference coverage rate of the renal artery. The lesion depth and length increase with each factor except for blood velocity. Increasing the electrode length from 2 to 4 mm or 2 to 6 mm, the lesion depth increases by 1.15 mm and 0.54 mm at 60 s. The corresponding lesion length increases by 2.65 mm and 2.34 mm, respectively. The range of effective lesion depth is 1.90-4.90 mm, at a voltage of 15-30 V. But the peak temperature at the arterial outer wall exceeded 100 °C when the voltage is above 25 V. In tissue, the degree of thermal injury in the 2 mm area reached 100%, but in blood was not more than 5%. There was no significant difference at different flow conditions because the difference value in lesion depth was not exceeded 0.5 mm. The results showed that the balloon-based four electrodes system is expected to overcome the difficulty of incomplete ablation. In clinical application, 2 mm-electrode is recommended to avoid long wall damage as much as possible and control the voltage below 25 V. This treatment has little thermal injury on the blood, which means it may avoid coagulation formation. Moreover, the application of this device does not need to consider the difference in individual blood velocity.

[Experimental study on temperature dependence of dielectric properties of biological tissues at 2 450 MHz].

The temperature dependence of relative permittivity and conductivity of ex-vivo pig liver, lung and heart at 2 450 MHz was studied. The relative permittivity and conductivity of three kinds of biological tissues were measured by the open-end coaxial line method. The dielectric model was fitted according to the principle of least square method. The results showed that the relative permittivity and conductivity of pig liver, pig lung and pig heart decreased with the increase of tissue temperature from 20 to 80 ℃. The relative permittivity and conductivity models of pig liver, pig lung and pig heart were established to reflect the law of dielectric properties of biological tissue changing with temperature and provide a reference for the parameters setting of thermal ablation temperature field.

[Application of hyperbolic heat transfer model in atrial fibrillation microwave ablation].

The effect of relaxation time in hyperbolic heat transfer model on the temperature field of microwave ablation of atrial fibrillation was investigated. And the results were compared with those calculated by Pennes model. A three-dimensional model of microwave ablation of atrial fibrillation was constructed. The relaxation time ( τ) was 0, 1, 5, 8, 10, 15 and 20 s, respectively. And the temperature field of myocardial tissue was obtained. The results showed that the highest temperature of the hyperbolic model was 21.8 ℃ lower than that of the Pennes model at the beginning of ablation. With the increase of ablation time, the highest temperature tended to be the same. The lesion dimensions appeared at 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 s, respectively after ablation. Therefore, the influence of hyperbolic model on temperature will decrease with the increase of the ablation time. At the beginning of ablation, the relaxation time will hinder the speed of myocardial thermal diffusion. The larger the relaxation time is, the slower the speed of thermal diffusion is. This study provides a reference for the application of hyperbolic model in microwave ablation of atrial fibrillation.

Numerical simulation of electromagnetic heating process of biological tissue via time-fractional Cattaneo transfer equation.

In order to simulate the heat transfer in the process of hyperthermia, one-dimensional time-fractional Cattaneo heat transfer equation (TFHE) is established. Based on TFHE, the heat transfer model is solved by using finite difference method, because a single layer of biological tissue in vitro is irradiated by electromagnetic energy. The effect of power parameters (energy flux density P0, tissue attenuation coefficient h) and equation parameters (relaxation time τq and fractional order ß) on the prediction of temperature simulated by TFHE were studied. Furthermore, comparative studies on TFHE, Pennes and CV are performed and evaluated. In the heating process, because of the existence of relaxation time τq, the temperature response of TFHE and CV are later than Pennes, leading to the lower temperature prediction of TFHE and CV than that of Pennes. The shorter the time is, the higher the energy is, and the more obvious the difference is.

Flow field study of radiofrequency ablation of renal sympathetic nerve: Numerical simulation and PIV experiments.

Renal sympathetic denervation (RSD) is a new method for the treatment of resistant hypertension (RH). However, few studies have focused on the effects of RSD on blood flow and the interaction between temperature field and flow field. In this paper, firstly, we designed a numerical simulation of electromagnetic field, flow field and temperature field coupling by finite element method. Secondly, numerical simulation results were verified by particle image velocimetry (PIV) and vitro experiment. From the simulation results, when the flow velocity increases to 0.05 m/s, the turbulence near the electrode disappeared and flow state became uniform laminar flow. With the increases of flow velocity (0 m/s to 0.1 m/s), temperature rise of the renal artery, the electrode tip and blood decreased from 13°C, 24°C and 5.4°C to 9.3°C, 9.7°C and 0.2°C, respectively. From PIV experiment and vitro experiment results, when the flow rate increases to 0.5 L/min, it appeared similar phenomenon with the velocity of 0.05 m/s in simulation. With the increases of flow rate (0 L/min to 0.8 L/min), temperature rise of three points decreased from 11.2°C, 20.5°C and 3.6°C to 7.8°C, 8.5°C, and 0.4°C, respectively. When the blood flow rate exceeds 0.5 L/min, there is no large velocity gradient and reflux area in the flow field, so there will be no hemolysis and thrombosis. Therefore, the temperature field has less influence on the flow field. With the increase of flow rate, the temperature at all three points decreases. Therefore, the flow field has an effect on the temperature field. But the central temperature of renal artery can still reach the treatment target in which temperature rises to be more than 6°C. Therefore, this study preliminarily verified the safety and effectiveness of RSD.

Experimental and numerical study of microwave ablation on ex-vivo porcine lung.

Microwave ablation is used to treat lung tumors by releasing microwave magnetic field to produce high temperature of more than 60 ℃ in the tumor tissues, thus causing tissue coagulation, dehydration and necrosis to achieve the purpose of treatment. However, the lack of appropriate power and time parameters for microwave ablation in clinical treatment of lung tumors leads to poor ablation or excessive ablation. In this paper, a two-dimensional simulation model of microwave antenna and ideal lung was established to realize the simulation of microwave ablation process. Meanwhile, microwave ablation experiments were carried out in ex-vivo porcine lung under different power and time. The temperature distribution was obtained by thermocouples and compared with the simulation calculation. Set 60℃ as boundary of the ablation area and the ablation time was 360 s. The length of the ablation area parallel to the antenna direction is longitudinal, and the length perpendicular to the antenna direction is transverse. From the simulation results, with the increase of ablation power (20 W to 60 W), the transverse diameter of ablation area increased from 32.5 mm to 55.6 mm, and the longitudinal diameter increased from 47.8 mm to 69.1 mm. From the results of ex-vivo experiments, with the increase of ablation power (30 W to 50 W), the transverse diameter of ablation area increased from 29.5 mm to 48.9 mm, the longitudinal diameter increased from 41.1 mm to 66.3 mm, and the maximum slot temperature increased from 75.6 ℃ to 106.7 ℃. The results of numerical simulation are slightly larger than those of ex-vivo experiments under the same parameters. When the average diameter of lung tumors is less than 40 mm, 30 W and 40 W ablation power can be selected. The ablation time is limited to 360 s. 50 W ablation power can be used to ablate the lesion quickly in a shorter time to achieve the same purpose. Although there are differences between ex-vivo and in vivo, the validity of the lung model and the influence of ablation parameters in the simulation are verified in this paper. The ablation area under different parameters was obtained, which served as a reference data for clinical practice. A basic study was made to consider the complex lung model and the changes of parameters with temperature in the future.

The comparison of lesion outline and temperature field determined by different ways in atrial radiofrequency ablation.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to research the lesion outline and temperature field in different ways in atrial radiofrequency ablation by using finite element method. METHODS: This study used the method which considered the thermal dosage to determine the boundary between viable and dead tissue, and compared to the 50 °C isotherm results in analyzing lesion outline. Besides, we used Hyperbolic equation which considered the relaxation time to calculate the temperature field and contrasted it with Pennes' bioheat transfer equation. RESULTS: As the result of the comparison of the lesion outline, when the ablation time was 120 s, the isotherm of the thermal dosage was larger than the 50 °C isotherm and with the increasing of the voltage the gap increased. When the ablation voltage was 30 V, the 50 °C isotherm was larger than the thermal dosage isotherm when the ablation time was less than 160 s. The isotherms overlapped when the time was 160 s. And when the ablation time was more than 160 s, the 50 °C isotherm was less than the thermal dosage isotherm. As to the temperature field, when the ablation voltage was 30 V with the ablation time 120 s the highest temperature decided by Hyperbolic was 0.761 °C higher. The highest temperature changed with relaxation time. In most cases, the highest temperature of the Hyperbolic was higher otherwise the relaxation time was 30-40 s. CONCLUSIONS: It is better to use CEM43 °C to estimate the lesion outline when the ablative time within 160 s. For temperature distribution, the Hyperbolic reflects the influence of heat transmission speed, so the result is more close to the actual situation.

The effects of fat layer on temperature distribution during microwave atrial fibrillation catheter ablation.

To investigate the effects of fat layer on the temperature distribution during microwave atrial fibrillation catheter ablation in the conditions of different ablation time; 3D finite element models (fat layer and no fat layer) were built, and temperature distribution was obtained based on coupled electromagnetic-thermal analysis at 2.45 GHz and 30 W of microwave power. Results shown: in the endocardial ablation, the existence of the fat layer did not affect the shape of the 50 °C contour before 30 s. The increase speed of depth became quite slowly in the model with fat layer after 30 s. When ablation depth needed fixed, there are no significant effect on effectively ablation depth whether fat layer over or not. However, the existence of fat layer makes the temperature lower in the myocardium, and maximum temperature point closer to the myocardium surface. What is more, in the model with fat layer, effective ablation reach lower maximum temperature and the shallower depth of 50 °C contour. But there are larger ablation axial length and transverse width. In this case, doctor should ensure safety of normal cardiac tissue around the target tissue. In the epicardial ablation, the existence of fat layer seriously affects result of the microwave ablation. The epicardial ablation needs more heating time to create lesion. But epicardial ablation can be better controlled in the shape of effective ablation area because of the slowly increase of target variables after the appearing of 50 °C contour. Doctor can choose endocardial or epicardial ablation in different case of clinic requirement.

Comparative experiments on phantom and ex vivo liver tissue in microwave ablation.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the thermal field distribution of phantom and ex vivo liver tissue in microwave ablation. We intent to verify if the phantom can be used in future studies in lieu of actual tissue. METHODS: This experiment was divided into two groups of phantom and ex vivo porcine liver tissue. 2450 MHz is set. The tests last up to 240 s in 60 W. The velocity of the circulating water pumps were adjusted to 40 rounds/min. Twenty-five copper-constantan thermocouples (TCs) were inserted at the specified position to record temperature data. RESULT: For the cooling water, the temperature field was non-symmetric distribution at the gap before (z > z < 0 mm) of two groups of experiments. At the part without cooling water (z > 0 mm), effective ablation areas were larger; near the microwave antenna, the temperature curves showed good consistency for both materials. Far away from the microwave antenna, the value difference increased between phantom and liver tissue. Moreover, the effect of cooling water in phantom is more obvious than it in liver tissue. The shapes of ablation areas from two groups are not same. CONCLUSION: The result of the present work implied that heating patterns of liver tissue and phantom are comparable. But the difference of temperature field between two kinds of materials cannot be ignored. In cases of using phantom to verify temperature field in lieu of actual tissue, the researchers should pay full attention to these difference points.

Thermal distribution of microwave antenna for atrial fibrillation catheter ablation.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of ablation parameters on thermal distribution during microwave atrial fibrillation catheter ablation, such as ablation time, ablation power, blood condition and antenna placement, and give proper ablative parameters to realise transmural ablation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this paper, simplified 3D antenna-myocardium-blood finite element method models were built to simulate the endocardial ablation operation. Thermal distribution was obtained based on the coupled electromagnetic-thermal analysis. Under different antenna placement conditions and different microwave power inputs within 60 s, the lesion dimensions (maximum depth, maximum width) of the ablation zones were analysed. RESULTS: The ablation width and depth increased with the ablation time. The increase rate significantly slowed down after 10 s. The maximum temperature was located in 1 mm under the antenna tip when perpendicular to the endocardium, while 1.5 mm away from the antenna axis and 26 mm along the antenna (with antenna length about 30 mm) in the myocardium when parallel to the endocardium. The maximum temperature in the ablated area decreased and the effective ablation area (with the temperature raised to 50°C) shifted deeper into the myocardium due to the blood cooling. CONCLUSION: The research validated that the microwave antenna can provide continuous long and linear lesions for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. The dimensions of the created lesion widths were all larger than those of the depths. It is easy for the microwave antenna to produce transmural lesions for an atrial wall thickness of 2-6 mm by adjusting the applied power and ablation time.

Study on the effect of different blood flow velocities of pulmonary vein on endocardial microwave ablation of atrial fibrillation.

OBJECTIVE: To cure atrial fibrillation, the maximum ablation depth (⩾ 50∘C) should exceed the myocardial thickness to achieve the effect of transmural ablation. The blood flow of pulmonary vein in the endocardium can cause the change in the myocardial temperature distribution. Therefore, the study investigated the effect of different pulmonary vein blood flow velocities on the endocardial microwave ablation. METHODS: The finite element model of the endocardial microwave ablation of pulmonary vein was simulated by electromagnetic thermal flow coupling. The ablation power was 30 W and the ablation time was within 30 s. The blood flow in the coupling of fluid mechanics equation and heat transfer equation results in the heat damage. Furthermore, the cause of the different lesion dimensions is the blood flow velocity. The flow velocities were set as 0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.07, 0.12, 0.16, 0.20, 0.25 and 0.30 m/s. RESULTS: When the flow velocities were 0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.07, 0.12, 0.16, 0.20, 0.25 and 0.30 m/s, the maximum ablation depth were 6.00, 5.56, 5.16, 5.12, 5.04, 5.01, 4.98, 4.96 and 4.94 mm, respectively; the maximum ablation width were 12.53, 9.63, 9.23, 9.16, 9.07, 9.05, 8.94, 8.91 and 8.90 mm, respectively; the maximum ablation length were 12.00, 11.61, 8.98, 8.59, 8.37, 8.23, 8.16, 8.06 and 8.04 mm respectively. To achieve transmural ablation, the time was 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4 s, respectively when the myocardial thickness was 2 mm; the time was 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 s, respectively when 3 mm; the time was 15, 16, 18, 19, 19, 20, 20, 20, 20 s, respectively when 4 mm. CONCLUSIONS: When the velocity increases from 0 m/s to 0.3 m/s, the microwave lesion depth decreases by 1.06 mm. To achieve transmural ablation, when the myocardial thickness is 2 mm, 3 and 4 s should be taken when the velocity is 0-0.12 and 0.12-0.30 m/s, respectively; when the myocardial thickness is 3 mm, 7, 8 and 9 s should be taken when 0, 0-0.07 and 0.07-0.30 m/s respectively; when the myocardial thickness is 4 mm, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20 s should be taken when 0, 0-0.02, 0.02-0.05, 0.05-0.12, 0.12 m/s-0.30 m/s.

Computational Modeling of Catheter-based Radiofrequency Renal Denervation with Patient-specific Model.

Renal sympathetic denervation (RDN) is an effective approach for uncontrolled hypertension. Although several studies have compared the ablation characteristics at various locations, there is no direct comparative study on the effect of ablation in main and branch renal artery (RAs) and different electrode materials. The study aims to investigate the effect of different electrode materials (copper, gold, and platinum) and positions (proximal, middle, or distal site) on ablation. A 3D patient-specific renal artery model and a unipolar model (470 kHz) were constructed to mimic RDN. Two therapeutic strategies, including main (site 1 and 2) and branch (site 3) ablations were simulated with three electrode materials. The finite element method was used to calculate the coupled electric-thermal-flow field. Maximum lesion depth, width, area, and lesion angle were analyzed. The results showed that the difference in lesion width and depth was no mere than 0.5 mm, and the maximum difference value in lesion area is 0.683 mm2 among three electrode materials. The lesion angle of proximal site 1 versus middle site 2 was 58.39 ° and 52.23 °, but the difference between distal site 3 and site 1, or site 2 was 29.19 ° and 35.35 ° respectively. There is no significant difference in the use of the three electrode materials, and ablation at the distal site of the artery is more effective.Clinical Relevance-This provides a reference for the selection of RF electrode materials and ablation locations.

Analysis to a critical state of thermal field in microwave ablation of liver cancer influenced by large vessels.

To study the effect of large blood vessels on the temperature field in invasive microwave ablation, a finite element method was applied based on the convective-type boundary condition on the interface between tissues and blood flow. Whether a large blood vessel is outside of or involved in the lesion area will affect the 54 degrees C effective therapeutic area in different critical conditions. This paper drew the function diagraph on the distance between blood vessel and antenna with the diameter of the blood vessel and put forward the concept of effective therapy radius. It can be used to study the influence of large vessels on the external boundary of the coagulation area and can be used as a theoretical basis to help to decide whether to occlude the large vessels before microwave ablation therapy.

Experimental study on thermal field in the vicinity of arterial bifurcation in microwave ablation therapy.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of an arterial bifurcation on the temperature distribution during microwave ablation in a muscle-equivalent phantom. METHODS: Two experiments with water flow rates of 42.39 mL/min and 70.79 mL/min in the typical range of blood flows in the hepatic artery of the human body were implemented. Temperature measurements inside the phantom were performed in the plane of the arterial bifurcation, in each experiment the microwave antenna was placed at three different positions at 10, 15 and 20 mm from the vessel. RESULTS: The heating pattern was not symmetrical around the antenna with large temperature gradients near the blood vessel when the antenna was near to the vessel (10 mm): The higher the blood velocity, the smaller the heated area. The heating pattern was more circular and symmetrical, and the temperature contours with the two given flow rates nearly coincide when the antenna was far away from the blood vessel (20 mm). The temperatures near the recirculation zone in the daughter arteries immediately after the bifurcation hardly vary with blood velocity. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the flow rate in the vessel and the distance between the vessel and the antenna can significantly affect the heating pattern during thermal ablation. The effect of blood flow on ablation is negligible if the distance between blood vessel and antenna exceeds 20 mm, and vessel occlusion can be avoided. The present results can be helpful in clinical microwave ablation surgical planning.

Flow Field Analysis in RF Ablation Based on PIV Experiment.

Resistant hypertension (RH) is a major healthcare issue, causing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In recent years, radiofrequency (RF) ablation to renal sympathetic denervation (RSD) is a new effective method for the treatment of RH. However, the effect of RSD on renal artery blood flow still need further research. In this study, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiment and RF ablation experiment were used to observe the blood flow states in three conditions: no ablation with flow, ablation with no flow, and ablation with flow. The results showed that when the blood flow was 1L/min in renal artery without ablation, it was uniform laminar flow. When the blood was static in renal artery with ablation, there was eddy around the ablation catheter. When the blood flow was 1L/min in renal artery with ablation, the eddy disappeared and the blood flow was uniform laminar flow. Therefore, when the renal artery blood flow is 1L/min, there will be no thrombus and hemolysis in the renal artery due to eddy current and large velocity gradient, which preliminarily verified the safety of the RSD. Keyword: Resistant hypertension; Radiofrequency ablation; Flow field; PIVClinical relevance-When the blood flow of renal artery is 1L/min, there will be no thrombus and hemolysis in renal artery due to eddy current and large velocity gradient during the operation of RF ablation to renal sympathetic denervation.

Numerical study on thermal field of microwave ablation with water-cooled antenna.

PURPOSE: This research was to reveal the thermal characteristics of a water-cooled microwave ablation antenna in phantom, and the influence of cooling water velocity on ablation pattern by numerical method. In addition, by comparing the numerical results with experimental results, the experimentally obtained SAR was proven to be correct. METHODS: The temperature distribution in ablations was simulated by the finite element method. In the FEM, the cooling effect in the region of the water-cooled antenna was introduced by applying the convective coefficient to the related boundaries, and the experimental determined SAR in phantom was applied as heat generation of microwave generator. To study the effect of water flow rate on ablation pattern, three different water velocities were chosen. In addition, the phantom thermal properties changes were considered in simulation when the heating temperature was above 80 degrees C. RESULTS: The ablation pattern could be identified as a pear shape. The temperatures of monitoring points which were located near the antenna could rise more rapidly, and they were more likely to achieve steady heat transfer state within a short time compared with those far away from the antenna. The cooling water effectively decreased the temperature near the antenna, an under-temperature occurred in the cooling region, and the different cooling water flow rate did not affect significantly the ablation pattern. CONCLUSIONS: The numerical results compared reasonably well with the experimental results in both heating pattern and temperature of individual monitoring point over the same heating duration. The SAR measured by our previous experiment was also confirmed by this numerical simulation. This method could be employed to study combination thermal field of multi-antennas in future work.

Numerical simulation of RF catheter ablation for the treatment of arterial aneurysm.

Considering the blood coagulation induced by the heating of radio frequency ablation (RFA) and the mechanism of aneurysm embolization, we proposed that RFA may be used to treat arterial aneurysm. But the safety of this method should be investigated. A finite element method (FEM) was used to simulate temperature and pressure distribution in aneurysm with different electrode position, electric field intensity and ablation time. When the electrode is in the middle of the artery aneurysm sac, temperature rose clearly in half side of artery aneurysm, which is not suitable for RFA. Temperature rose in the whole aneurysm when the electrode is under the artery aneurysm orifice, which is suitable for the ablation therapy. And in this way, the highest temperature was 69.585°C when power was 5.0 V/mm with 60 s. It can promote the coagulation and thrombosis generation in the aneurysm sac while the outside tissue temperature rises a little. Meanwhile, the pressure (10 Pa) at the top of aneurysm sac with electrode insertion is less than that (60 Pa) without electrode, so electrode implant may protect the aneurysm from rupture. The results can provide a theoretical basis for interventional treatment of aneurysm with RFA.

Numerical study of the effect of blood vessel on the microwave ablation shape.

The existence of large blood vessels seriously impacts the results of microwave ablation on heat transfer of surrounding tissue, and the research of influences about large blood vessels could be essential and significant. The temperature distribution in the tissue was analyzed with a microwave heating source by finite element method. The model, where the blood vessel is parallel to antenna, has different distances from antenna to blood vessel. As distance was greater than 20mm, the effect of blood vessel that was parallel to antenna was ignored and the ablation area was elliptical-like. When distance was less than 10mm, the part of asymmetrical coagulated area was on the right side of blood vessel. Therefore, the temperature contour by different conditions could provide numerical references, which is whether to block blood vessel or not, to achieve the aim of guiding the clinical practice, according to the locations of tumor and blood vessel.