Submission Type
Event
Expected Graduation Date
2016
Location
Center for Natural Sciences
Start Date
4-18-2015 9:00 AM
End Date
4-18-2015 10:00 AM
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences | Psychology
Abstract
Radiofrequency (RF) ablation of nerves is a minimally invasive alternative for the treatment of chronic pain conditions. In RF therapy, an electrical current produced by a radio wave is used to heat up the tip of a needle placed near the target nerve tissue, thereby decreasing pain signals from that specific area. Positioning of the RF probe and the size of the ablation lesion produced are critical factors for the success of the treatment. Traditionally, RF has been applied using monopolar electrodes set to generate lesions at 80 °C for 90 seconds. The size of the lesion is limited to a small volume around the active tip of the RF probe. Alternative electrode designs have been developed to increase the volume of lesion, including a cooled active tip and a protruding electrode designs. Despite the proven clinical efficiency of RF ablation, there is room for improvement in terms of creating lesion sizes that provide optimum overlap with the affected nerve, while utilizing proper positioning of the probe and minimally affecting the surrounding structures. This study compares RF lesion volumes and shapes produced in a chicken muscle model by either cooled tip RF or protruding electrode RF using commercially available setups. Mean lesion volume made using cooled RF ablation was 2.8 times larger than that produced using protruding electrode RF with an 18 gauge, 10 mm tip, and 3.4 times larger than that produced with a 20 gauge, 10 mm tip. Cooled RF provides larger distal lesion projection when compared to other systems, which may be an advantage when considering a perpendicular approach to the target nerve. Larger size and distal projection obtained with cooled RFA may better accommodate any imprecise probe placements made by physicians, because larger lesions predictably have bigger compensatory probe placement error ranges than other systems.
Included in
Ex Vivo Comparision of Lesions Created with Cooled Radiofrequency and Protruding Electrode Radiofrequency Probes
Center for Natural Sciences
Radiofrequency (RF) ablation of nerves is a minimally invasive alternative for the treatment of chronic pain conditions. In RF therapy, an electrical current produced by a radio wave is used to heat up the tip of a needle placed near the target nerve tissue, thereby decreasing pain signals from that specific area. Positioning of the RF probe and the size of the ablation lesion produced are critical factors for the success of the treatment. Traditionally, RF has been applied using monopolar electrodes set to generate lesions at 80 °C for 90 seconds. The size of the lesion is limited to a small volume around the active tip of the RF probe. Alternative electrode designs have been developed to increase the volume of lesion, including a cooled active tip and a protruding electrode designs. Despite the proven clinical efficiency of RF ablation, there is room for improvement in terms of creating lesion sizes that provide optimum overlap with the affected nerve, while utilizing proper positioning of the probe and minimally affecting the surrounding structures. This study compares RF lesion volumes and shapes produced in a chicken muscle model by either cooled tip RF or protruding electrode RF using commercially available setups. Mean lesion volume made using cooled RF ablation was 2.8 times larger than that produced using protruding electrode RF with an 18 gauge, 10 mm tip, and 3.4 times larger than that produced with a 20 gauge, 10 mm tip. Cooled RF provides larger distal lesion projection when compared to other systems, which may be an advantage when considering a perpendicular approach to the target nerve. Larger size and distal projection obtained with cooled RFA may better accommodate any imprecise probe placements made by physicians, because larger lesions predictably have bigger compensatory probe placement error ranges than other systems.