A parametric study on the cryosurgery of gel mimicking tissue phantoms

Abstract

An experimental study is carried out which aims at providing an efficient approach to cryosurgery. Our study proposes a flexible method to control the shape and size of the ice ball obtained after freezing for different sets of experiment. This paper proposes a novel approach which enhances freezing damage by attaining a significantly low temperature which is required for cell destruction. The effect of probe insertion depth and the concentration of agarose gel on the freezing damage is also studied. The experiments were performed with gel mimicking tissue phantoms of different concentrations of 0.2%(weight/volume), 0.6% and 1%. The results obtained demonstrate that localised injection of a low thermal conductivity fluid can enhance the destruction of tumour without altering the freezing condition. The study also suggests the potential value to develop new clinical approach in the near future for the treatment of tumours using cryosurgery