Study on Radiofrequency Ablation of Lung and Kidney Tumors With and Without Nanoparticles Using Multi-Tined Electrode

Abstract

Radio frequency ablation (RFA) is an alternative method for the cure of malign tumors in the liver, lung, and kidney. In the present work, finite element method (FEM) analysis is conducted to study the effect of nanoparticles on the temporal and spatial temperature distribution during RFA. Three-dimensional thermoelectrically FEM model consisting of a multitined radio frequency electrode (nine-tine, deployed up to 2 cm) and a cubical tumor of size 50 mm3 is developed. Numerical simulation is carried out under the temperature-controlled mode (95 °C) with 10 min ablation time. A study using multitined electrodes is carried out on different tissues, i.e., lung and kidney, with and without nanoparticles. Results show that the nanoparticles increase the heat conduction rate and decrease the ablation time up to 13% for the inclusion of 6% nanoparticles. It has been found that the spatial temperature distribution becomes uniform with nanoparticle assistance.