Effect of Microbubble-Enhanced Ultrasound on Radiofrequency Ablation of Rabbit Liver
Microbubble-enhanced ultrasound (MEUS) can non-invasively disrupt and block liver blood perfusion. It may potentially overcome the heat sink effect during a thermal ablation and consequently enhance radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of the liver. We propose a new strategy combining RFA with MEUS. For ultrasound treatment, an 831-kHz air-backed focused transducer directed 400-cycle bursts at 4.3 MPa to the liver at a 9-Hz rate. The treatment was nucleated by a lipids microbubble forming MEUS. Eighteen surgically exposed rabbit livers were treated using MEUS combined with RFA; the other 32 livers were treated using MEUS (n = 14) or RFA (n = 18) alone and served as the controls.
Source: Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology - Category: Radiology Authors: Zhong Chen, Hongzhi Zhao, Xueyan Qiao, Cuo Yi, Shunji Gao, Wenhong Gao, Zheng Liu Tags: Original Contribution Source Type: research