Background: The volume of the coagulation zones created during radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is limited by the appearance of roll-off. Doping the tissue with conductive fluids, e.g. gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) could enlarge these zones by delaying roll-off. Our goal was to characterize the electrical conductivity of a substrate doped with AuNPs in a computer modeling study and ex vivo experiments to investigate their effect on coagulation zone volumes.
Methods: The electrical conductivity of substrates doped with normal saline or AuNPs was assessed experimentally on agar phantoms. The computer models, built and solved on COMSOL Multiphysics, consisted of a cylindrical domain mimicking liver tissue and a spherical domain mimicking a doped zone with 2, 3 and 4 cm diameters. Ex vivo experiments were conducted on bovine liver fragments under three different conditions: 1) non-doped tissue (ND Group), 2 mL of 0.9% NaCl (NaCl Group), and 2 mL of AuNPs 0.1 wt% (AuNPs Group).
Results: The theoretical analysis showed that adding normal saline or colloidal gold in concentrations lower than 10% only modifies the electrical conductivity of the doped substrate with practically no change in the thermal characteristics. The computer results showed a relationship between doped zone size and electrode length regarding the created coagulation zone. There was good agreement between the ex vivo and computational results in terms of transverse diameter of the coagulation zone.
Conclusions: Both the computer and ex vivo experiments showed that doping with AuNPs can enlarge the coagulation zone, especially the transverse diameter and hence enhance sphericity.

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The full text of this article is available to read as a PDF.
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On 13 Dec, 2020
On 29 Nov, 2020
On 29 Nov, 2020
On 29 Nov, 2020
Posted 11 Nov, 2020
Received 17 Nov, 2020
On 17 Nov, 2020
On 08 Nov, 2020
Received 08 Nov, 2020
On 07 Nov, 2020
On 05 Nov, 2020
Invitations sent on 05 Nov, 2020
On 05 Nov, 2020
On 05 Nov, 2020
On 12 Oct, 2020
Received 24 Aug, 2020
Received 24 Aug, 2020
On 12 Aug, 2020
On 10 Aug, 2020
Received 05 Aug, 2020
On 03 Aug, 2020
Invitations sent on 24 Jul, 2020
On 17 Jul, 2020
On 17 Jul, 2020
On 17 Jul, 2020
On 16 Jul, 2020
On 13 Dec, 2020
On 29 Nov, 2020
On 29 Nov, 2020
On 29 Nov, 2020
Posted 11 Nov, 2020
Received 17 Nov, 2020
On 17 Nov, 2020
On 08 Nov, 2020
Received 08 Nov, 2020
On 07 Nov, 2020
On 05 Nov, 2020
Invitations sent on 05 Nov, 2020
On 05 Nov, 2020
On 05 Nov, 2020
On 12 Oct, 2020
Received 24 Aug, 2020
Received 24 Aug, 2020
On 12 Aug, 2020
On 10 Aug, 2020
Received 05 Aug, 2020
On 03 Aug, 2020
Invitations sent on 24 Jul, 2020
On 17 Jul, 2020
On 17 Jul, 2020
On 17 Jul, 2020
On 16 Jul, 2020
Background: The volume of the coagulation zones created during radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is limited by the appearance of roll-off. Doping the tissue with conductive fluids, e.g. gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) could enlarge these zones by delaying roll-off. Our goal was to characterize the electrical conductivity of a substrate doped with AuNPs in a computer modeling study and ex vivo experiments to investigate their effect on coagulation zone volumes.
Methods: The electrical conductivity of substrates doped with normal saline or AuNPs was assessed experimentally on agar phantoms. The computer models, built and solved on COMSOL Multiphysics, consisted of a cylindrical domain mimicking liver tissue and a spherical domain mimicking a doped zone with 2, 3 and 4 cm diameters. Ex vivo experiments were conducted on bovine liver fragments under three different conditions: 1) non-doped tissue (ND Group), 2 mL of 0.9% NaCl (NaCl Group), and 2 mL of AuNPs 0.1 wt% (AuNPs Group).
Results: The theoretical analysis showed that adding normal saline or colloidal gold in concentrations lower than 10% only modifies the electrical conductivity of the doped substrate with practically no change in the thermal characteristics. The computer results showed a relationship between doped zone size and electrode length regarding the created coagulation zone. There was good agreement between the ex vivo and computational results in terms of transverse diameter of the coagulation zone.
Conclusions: Both the computer and ex vivo experiments showed that doping with AuNPs can enlarge the coagulation zone, especially the transverse diameter and hence enhance sphericity.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7
The full text of this article is available to read as a PDF.
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