Fiber-optic chirped FBG for distributed thermal monitoring of ex-vivo radiofrequency ablation of liver

Daniele Tosi; Edoardo Gino Macchi; Mario Gallati; Giovanni Braschi; Alfredo Cigada; Sandro Rossi; Gabriel Leen; Elfed Lewis

doi:10.1364/BOE.5.001799

Fiber-optic chirped FBG for distributed thermal monitoring of ex-vivo radiofrequency ablation of liver

Biomed Opt Express. 2014 May 13;5(6):1799-811. doi: 10.1364/BOE.5.001799. eCollection 2014 Jun 1.

Authors

Daniele Tosi¹, Edoardo Gino Macchi², Mario Gallati², Giovanni Braschi², Alfredo Cigada³, Sandro Rossi⁴, Gabriel Leen¹, Elfed Lewis¹

Affiliations

¹ University of Limerick, Optical Fibre Sensors Research Centre (OFSRC), Limerick, Ireland.
² Universita' di Pavia, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile ed Architettura, via Ferrata 3, 27100 Pavia (PV), Italy.
³ Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Meccanica, via La Masa 34, 20158 Milano (MI), Italy.
⁴ IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Foundation, VI Department of Internal Medicine, v.le Golgi 17, 27100 Pavia (PV), Italy.

Abstract

A linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating (LCFBG) has been used as a temperature sensor for online monitoring of radiofrequency thermal ablation (RFTA). The LCFBG acts as a distributed sensor, with spatial resolution of 75 μm. A white-light setup that records the LCFBG spectrum estimates the temperature profile in real time. Three RFTA experiments have been performed ex-vivo on porcine liver measuring the radial temperature distribution during the heating process. The analysis of thermal maps quantifies the spatial heat distribution along the measurement axis and determines the ablation efficiency.

Keywords: (050.1590) Chirping; (060.2370) Fiber optics sensors; (060.3735) Fiber Bragg gratings; (120.6780) Temperature; (170.1020) Ablation of tissue.