Introduction: The radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of liver cancer is a desirable treatment option, as it is minimally invasive. An accurate numerical simulation can greatly help physicians better plan their surgical protocols. Previously, the displacement current in the RFA process was considered negligible, and therefore RFA simulation was modeled as a direct current (DC) system instead of an alternating current (AC) system. Our study investigated the hypothesis that the displacement current in the RFA process should not always be considered negligible.
Methods: AC measurements of ex vivo bovine liver ablation were performed, and numerical simulations were also conducted to test the hypothesis that the relative permittivity would significantly decrease after the liver tissue reached a high temperature.
Results: The displacement current was observed to be a sizable fraction of the conduction current, especially before the onset of the first pause. The simulation results indicated that the relative permittivity is likely to decrease to several hundred or lower at elevated temperatures.
Conclusions: Our study results suggest that the DC model may be inadequate, especially before the first roll-off and that additional information could be available during RFA treatment by considering the AC nature of RFA, which could lead to improved numerical simulation. Additional measurements of tissue parameters are needed to reach the full potential of the AC model for further development of ablation control.
Keywords: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA); alternating current (AC); bovine liver; dielectric constant; finite element method (FEM) simulation; phase; relative permittivity.