Feasibility of abdomino-pelvic T1-weighted real-time thermal mapping of laser ablation.
OBJECTIVE
To prove the hypothesis that T1-weighted (T1W) thermal mapping is reliable and achievable in magnetic resonance (MR)-guided laser tumor ablation.


METHODS
Near real-time gray and color-scale T1W thermal maps in 111 MR-guided laser thermal ablations (LTA) of liver, kidney, and uterine tumors were studied. After laser fiber placement, near real-time gray and color-scale thermal maps were produced. Previous work showed T1 signal is inversely proportional to temperature below 55 degrees C (the point of irreversible necrosis).


RESULTS
Thermal mapping was successful in 84% of uterine, 74% of hepatic, and 20% of renal ablations. For hepatic and uterine tumors, size and conspicuity of thermal lesions were significantly greater on subtracted colorized images rather than gray-scale raw image mapping (P = 0.001, paired Student's t-test). Patient movement (N = 24), fiber charring N = 2), magnetic field distortion, and reconstruction errors (N = 2) caused mapping failure. For both renal and hepatic tumors, comparison of near real-time T1W colorized thermal map and follow up gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging revealed moderate correlation (Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.55 and 0.5, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
In hepatic, renal, and uterine thermal maps, the color scale produced significantly greater sized lesions with significantly greater conspicuity than the gray scale. T1W thermal mapping was reliable and successfully achieved in 73.7% of procedures, and predicted the ablated area of the tumor moderately well.
Dick
Elizabeth A
EA
Department of Interventional MRI, St. Mary's Hospital, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Praed Street, London W2 1NY, UK.
Wragg
Paul
P
Joarder
Rita
R
de Jode
Michael
M
Lamb
Gabrielle
G
Gould
Stuart
S
Gedroyc
Wladyslaw M W
WM
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D017075:Laser Coagulation; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery