A study of the sink effect by blood vessels in radiofrequency ablation

George Zorbas; Theodoros Samaras

doi:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2014.12.014

A study of the sink effect by blood vessels in radiofrequency ablation

Comput Biol Med. 2015 Feb:57:182-6. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2014.12.014. Epub 2014 Dec 24.

Authors

George Zorbas¹, Theodoros Samaras²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: gzorba@physics.auth.gr.
² Department of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: theosama@auth.gr.

PMID: 25575184
DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2014.12.014

Abstract

The objective of the current work was to study the sink effect in radiofrequency ablation (RFA) caused by a blood vessel located close to an electrode in a two-compartment numerical model, consisting of a spherical tumor embedded in healthy liver tissue. Several blood vessels of different sizes were studied at different distances from the electrode. It was found that when a straight blood vessel, cylindrical in shape, is located parallel to the electrode, the minimum distance for a drop of only 10% in the isothermal treatment volume above 50°C, compared to the model without the blood vessel, varies from 4.49 mm (for a vessel of 2mm in diameter) to 20.02 mm (for a vessel 20mm in diameter). The results can be used as a guideline to clinical practitioners, in order to quickly assess the potential impact of existing blood vessels on the resulting treatment volume.

Keywords: Blood vessel; Finite difference; Lesion volume; Pennes bioheat equation; Radiofrequency ablation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Blood Vessels / physiology*
Catheter Ablation / methods*
Catheter Ablation / standards*
Electricity
Electrodes*
Hot Temperature
Humans
Liver / blood supply
Models, Biological