Three-dimensional analysis for radio-frequency ablation of liver tumor with blood perfusion effect

Abstract

Increase of temperature above 50 approximately 60 degrees C for few minutes by the emitted radio-frequency (RF) energy has been shown to be able to denaturate the intracellular proteins and destruct membranes of tumor cells. To improve the efficacy of this thermal therapy, it is important to investigate factors that may affect the RF heating characteristics for the hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic liver tumors. In order to make sure the applied RF energy is adequate to ablate the target tumor, a 3D thermoelectric analysis for the system consisting of liver, liver arteries and 4 mm diameter tumor is conducted. The effect of blood perfusion is addressed in this study.