title: Elastographic versus x-ray CT imaging of radio frequency ablation coagulations: an in vitro study.
abstract: Techniques to image elasticity parameters (i.e., elastography) have recently become of great interest to researchers. In this paper we use conventional ultrasound elastography and x-ray CT to image radio frequency (RF) ablation sites of excised canine liver enclosed in gelatin. Thermal coagulations of different sizes were produced by applying the RF procedure for various times and end point temperatures. Dimensions, areas and volumes computed from CT and elastography were compared with those on whole mount pathology specimens. Ultrasound elastography exhibited high contrast for the thermal coagulations and performed better than CT. The correlation between pathology and elastography for this sample set of 40 thermal coagulations (r = 0.94 for volume estimation, r = 0.87 for area estimation) is better than the correlation between pathology and CT (r = 0.89 for volume estimation, r = 0.82 for area estimation).
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1300 University Avenue, 1530 MSC, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Wu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Udomchai
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Techavipoo
authors.forename: Tomy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Varghese
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Zagzebski
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Fred T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D017115:Catheter Ablation; D004285:Dogs; D004548:Elasticity; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*