Three-Dimensional FEM Analysis of Nanoparticle-Assisted Radiofrequency Ablation of Tissue-Mimicking Phantom

Abstract

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive procedure to damage the cancer cells. In RFA, heat is generated only at the center zone of the tumor, and this heat has to propagate up to the periphery of the tumor. Since the thermal conductivity of phantom is low, it reduces heat transfer rate, and time required for complete ablation of tumor will be more. Since the ablation time is one of the main concerns, it is required to reduce it below the standard time (≈7.3 min). The ablation time can be reduced by injecting the nanoparticles into the tumor. In this paper, numerical studies are conducted on PAG phantom to analyze the effect of nanoparticle assisted RFA on the ablation time. Results indicate that in case of nanoparticles assisted RFA, heat conduction rate increases and takes lesser time (17.56% less) to ablate the tumor completely than that in conventional RFA. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.