Loss of cellular viability in areas of ground-glass opacity on computed tomography images immediately after pulmonary radiofrequency ablation in rabbits.
OBJECTIVE
To determine cellular viability of lung parenchyma and neoplastic cells in areas of ground-glass opacity (GGO) on computed tomography (CT) images immediately after pulmonary radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in rabbits.


METHODS
A LeVeen RFA electrode was placed percutaneously into rabbit lungs with or without metastatic VX2 tumors. Five minutes later, seven isolated lungs were imaged by use of a multi-detector row CT scanner, and the images were compared with histological features. The cellular viability of the lung tissues was assessed by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogen (NADH) staining in eight normal lungs and in three lungs with multiple metastatic tumors.


RESULTS
All lung lesions appeared as bilayered structures with a central, dense, attenuated area and an outer area of GGO on CT images, and as three-layered structures on macroscopic and microscopic images 5 min after RFA. The GGO areas approximately corresponded to the outer two layers in macroscopic images that were exudative and congestive on microscopic images. Staining for NADH was significantly reduced in the GGO and densely attenuated areas with or without tumor tissue staining compared with the non-ablated area.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that an area of GGO that appears on CT immediately after RFA can be effectively treated by RFA.
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, 5200 Kihara, Kiyotake, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan. 112828mk@live.jp
Masaomi
M
Kuroki
Hiroshi
H
Nakada
Atsushi
A
Yamashita
Akira
A
Sawaguchi
Noriko
N
Uchino
Shinya
S
Sato
Taketoshi
T
Asanuma
Yujiro
Y
Asada
Shozo
S
Tamura
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D002470:Cell Survival; D004867:Equipment Design; D005471:Fluoroscopy; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011817:Rabbits; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed