Gut Liver.  2012 Oct;6(4):471-475.

Comparison of Internally Cooled Wet Electrode and Hepatic Vascular Inflow Occlusion Method for Hepatic Radiofrequency Ablation

• Park MH
• Cho JS
• Shin BS
• Jeon GS
• Lee B
• Lee K

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Various strategies to expand the ablation zone have been attempted using hepatic radiofrequency ablation (RFA). The optimal strategy, however, is unknown. We compared hepatic RFA with an internally cooled wet (ICW) electrode and vascular inflow occlusion.
METHODS
Eight dogs were assigned to one of three groups: only RFA using an internally cooled electrode (group A), RFA using an ICW electrode (group B), and RFA using an internally cooled electrode with the Pringle maneuver (group C). The ablation zone diameters were measured on the gross specimens, and the volume of the ablation zone was calculated.
RESULTS
The ablation zone volume was greatest in group B (1.82+/-1.23 cm3), followed by group C (1.22+/-0.47 cm3), and then group A (0.48+/-0.33 cm3). The volumes for group B were significantly larger than the volumes for group A (p=0.030). There was no significant difference in the volumes between groups A and C (p=0.079) and between groups B and C (p=0.827).
CONCLUSIONS
Both the usage of an ICW electrode and hepatic vascular occlusion effectively expanded the ablation zone. The use of an ICW electrode induced a larger ablation zone with easy handling compared with using hepatic vascular occlusion, although this difference was not statistically significant.

Keyword

Liver; Catheter ablation

MeSH Terms

Animals
Catheter Ablation
Dogs
Electrodes
Handling (Psychology)
Liver