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Bronchoscopy-guided radiofrequency ablation as a potential novel therapeutic tool

¹ First Dept of Internal Medicine and ² Dept of Anesthesiology, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Asahi Matsumoto, Japan.

CORRESPONDENCE: K. Tsushima, First Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Shinshu University, 3-1-1 Asahi Matsumoto Nagano 390-8621, Japan. Fax: 81 263363722. E-mail: tsushima{at}hsp.md.shinshu-u.ac.jp

Keywords: Fibreoptic bronchoscopy, internal cooled-radiofrequency ablation, radiofrequency ablation, standard noncooled-radiofrequency ablation

Received: August 26, 2006
Accepted February 21, 2007

The aim of the current study was to assess the safety of bronchoscopy-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and compare the effectiveness between new internal cooled-RFA and standard noncooled-RFA.

Normal lungs from sheep were used (n = 6). Internal cooled-RFA and standard noncooled-RFA were set to assess the most suitable RFA conditions, such as power output, flow rate and ablation time. Internal cooled-RFA was then applied under the most optimal conditions of power output and flow rate for 15, 30, 60 and 120 s, and two water temperatures either room temperature (RT) water or cold water. Criteria for the most appropriate conditions were set over 15 s of ablation time and 50°C of the tip's temperature.

Internal cooled-RFA had no complications. Standard noncooled-RFA was complicated with bronchial bleeding after RFA. On the basis of the histological findings, average temperature and average output, the most appropriate conditions of the cooled-RFA were a power output of 30 W and flow rate of 30 or 40 mL·min^–1. The cooled-RFA using cold water caused a smaller, more discrete, lesion compared with that using RT water.

Bronchoscopy-guided internal cooled-radiofrequency ablation was an effective, safe and feasible procedure that could become a potential therapeutic tool in managing lung pathology.