A parametric study on the cryosurgery of gel mimicking tissue phantoms

Abstract

An effcient approach to cryosurgery is proposed through experimental study. Our study proposes a flexible method to control the shape and size of the ice ball obtained during the cryosurgery. This paper proposes a novel approach which enhances freezing damage by attaining a significantly low temperature which is required for cell destruction. The tissue is mimicked using agarose gel with different concentrations of 0.2% (weight/volume), 0.6% and 1%. The effect of probe insertion depth and the concentration of agarose gel on the freezing damage is also studied. The results 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. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.