Efficacy of intraductal cooling to prevent the bile duct injury during radiofrequency ablation associated with hepatic blood occlusion

Abstract

Objective To explore the efficacy of intraductal chilled saline perfusion (ICSP) to reduce the thermal bile duct injury during the treatment of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) associating with occlusion of hepatic blood supply in rabbits.Methods 16 healthy New Zealand white rabbits were divided into 2 groups.Rabbits of the ICSP group were placed tubes in the common bile duct after laparotomy,and ICSP was performed during the RFA procedure accompanied with hepatic blood occlusion.While for rabbits of the non-ICSP group,hepatic blood occlusion and RFA were performed without ICSP.RFA electrodes were placed about 5 mm away from the hilus hepatis approximately.Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) was administrated to evaluate the sizes of the ablative zones after the procedure.On post-procedure 6 week,ultrasonography was prerformed to evaluate the changes of the biliary structure,and liver specimens of rabbits wcrc obtained for histopathologic observation of main bile ducts.Results Post-procedure CEUS examination showed that there was no significant difference in the size of the ablative zone between the groups (P ＞0.05).On post-procedure 6 week,rabbits of the ICSP group appeared with biliary dilatation more frequently by ultrasonography (P ＜0.05),and a higher degree of the injury of main bile duct by histopathologic observation (P ＜0.05).Conclusions In treatment of RFA accompanied with hepatic blood occlusion,RFA-induced bile duct injury may be decreased significantly with ICSP. Key words: Ultrasonography; Microbubbles; Catheter ablation; Bile duct injury; Intraductal cooling