Microwave Ablation: The Differences Between Biliary Cirrhosis and Normal Porcine Liver Using a Cooled-tip Electrode

Abstract

Aim: To elucidate the difference in both in vivo and ex vivo microwave ablation in a biliary cirrhotic porcine liver model using a cooled-tip electrode.

Materials and methods: Microwave ablation with cooled-tip electrode was conducted under laparotomy. Morphological and pathological characteristics of the ablated areas were compared.

Results: In the cirrhotic liver group, the in vivo ablated area was smaller than that ex vivo in terms of short and long axes, and volume. With the same ablation settings, both in vivo and ex vivo ablated areas in normal pig liver were larger than their counterparts in cirrhotic liver in terms of the short and long axes, and volume.

Conclusion: Both in vivo and ex vivo ablated areas in biliary cirrhotic pig liver were smaller than their counterparts in normal liver, suggesting that for the same amount of power, it requires a significantly longer duration to achieve the same ablated volume in cirrhotic liver compared to normal liver.

Keywords: Microwave ablation; animal model; liver cirrhosis; pigs.