Electromagnetic thermal surgery system for liver resection: An animal study

Abstract

Purpose: Electromagnetic thermal surgery is a new technique. It applies an electrical current through coils to generate a high frequency magnetic field to heat up magnetic materials in the targeted area. Using this technique, we aim to perform liver resection without bleeding in rats and rabbits.

Materials and methods: The electromagnetic machine can produce a high frequency magnetic field, with an input of 220 V-55 A-60 Hz, an output frequency of 62.1 kHz, and a power of 2.2 kW. The magnetic materials used in this study were fine needles made of stainless steel. For ex vivo experiments, we used porcine liver explants; in the animal model, sixteen Sprague-Dawley rats and seven New Zealand White rabbits were used. We inserted one needle array along the attempted resection lines and then used the magnetic coils to heat up the needles for three min. After heating, we resected the designated liver portions using surgical scalpels.

Results: In the ex vivo test, the fine needles were heated up effectively to achieve tissue coagulation (more than 90°C). In the animal model the liver resection was performed without bleeding and no bile peritonitis was observed after the surgery. All animals were alive after the surgery until the end of the experiment (30 days).

Conclusions: The experiments showed that our thermal surgery system is very effective in performing bloodless liver resection without further ligation or embolisation needed. Our technique is new and the system has great potential to develop into clinical practice.

• electromagnetism
• liver resection
• thermal surgery
• thermo-coagulation