title: An in vitro monitoring system for simulated thermal process in cryosurgery.
abstract: This paper describes a new in vitro experimental model that records temperature changes over a culture plate, which then can be used to assess the biological effects of cryosurgery. A cryoprobe and 16 thermocouples set up by a computer control system were used to monitor the temperature changes during freezing and thawing in a culture plate, and the data were used to create a temperature profile of the entire plate. Location of the thermocouples was confirmed by a digital camera viewing from under the plate, and temperature changes at any point in the interpolated areas were estimated using a curve fitting method. The estimated temperature was checked by sampling with four additional randomly placed thermocouples. Linear regression analysis showed that the estimated temperature and measured temperature were very close (correlation coefficients 0.98-0.99). MBT-2 tumor cells were cultured and then subjected to simulated cryosurgery. The surviving cells were stained with crystal violet and the cell death boundary was detected by image processing. Temperature history at the cell death boundary was retrieved and analyzed. With this system it is possible to recreate the temperature changes that result in a certain biological effect (such as cell death) during the process of simulated cryosurgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000473:pathology; D016923:Cell Death; D003452:Cryosurgery / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016014:Linear Models; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010781:Photography / Q000295:instrumentation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013696:Temperature; D013821:Thermometers; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology