Research on Electrode Design for RF Ablation

Pedro M. d. Santos
August 21, 2015

Part I

Electrode Design
1

Electrode and Multiple Electrode Systems for

RF Ablation: a proposal for updated terminology

This article main purpose is to give names to all commercial electrodes for RF
ablation systems. Our idea is to use the expandable design (rainbow shaped)
but there are many others, including ones with saline perfusion and cooling
systems [1].

Haemmerich PhD. Thesis

Uses FEM analysis to observe electrical aspects of the RF ablation electrodes.

It can be concluded that the electrodes should not be electric insulated on their
contact region. Also, the ablation process is done with the help of ultrasound
scan. The thesis also includes topics such as PI controller to adjust RF voltage
input.

Ablation Applicator for Destructive Hyperthermia Treatment

Through the use of computational simulation (SEMCAD and MATLAB) this

article studies the thermal effects of RF ablation on the human body. It contains graphical results of such simulations and it briefly discuss about electrode
different designs [2].

Part II

Control System
4

Theoretical and experimental study on RF tumour ablation with internally cooled electrodes:
When does the roll-off occur?

The whole article is based on the idea that the roll-off effect happens only
when the central region of the tumour reaches 100 degrees Celsius, which is the
threshold value before the charring effect starts to happen. Three thermocouples
were used for the study, A simulation program was used(COMSOL).

ISOBE ET AL.: Real-Time Temperature Control System Based on the Finite Element Method
for Liver Radiofrequency Ablation: Effect of
the Time Interval on Control
Trying to predict temperatures away from the electrode needle. First by
using a single measurement as collected data.
Control system, algorithms and system response.

Study of the Static and Dynamic Characterization of the Biological Tissue to Obtain the
Temperature Estimation in RF Ablation Using Computer Modeling
Treat it as a system: Voltage is the input and Temperature is the output.
Extract Transfer Function

Analytical validation of COMSOL Multiphysics

for theoretical models of Radiofrequency ablation including the Hyperbolic Bioheat transfer equation
Propose that the heat flux and heat gradient does not happen at the exact
same time.
2

 Use an equation to describe the heat source. Perhaps this is useful as we

could use this idea and perform our equation for our umbrella configuration.
Results show some variation between Bioheat equation and Hyperbolic
Bioheat Equation (which considers relaxation time). Both results show
less than 5% of discrepancy w.r.t. COMSOL results.

References
[1] S Mulier, Y Miao, P Mulier, B Dupas, and P Pereira. Electrodes and multiple electrode systems for radiofrequency ablation: a proposal for updated
terminology. European , 2005.
[2] T Vydra and J Vrba. Ablation applicator for destructive hyperthermia
treatment. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2011.