Computational study to assess whether the heat sink effect of blood flow inside the portal vein could thermally protect its wall during RF-assisted resection

Abstract

The aim of our study was to assess whether the heat sink effect inside the portal vein could protect its wall from thermal damage close to an internally cooled electrode during RF-assisted resection. Computer simulations were carried out to study the effect of different factors such as device-tissue contact, vessel position and vessel-device distance on temperature distributions and thermal lesion shapes near the portal vein. Our results suggest that the heat sink effect could protect the portal vein wall for distances equal to or greater than 5 mm, regardless of its position and distance with respect to the RF-based device.