Interstitial laser-induced thermotherapy of the lung: evaluation of the influence of ablation continuity on ablation size in a swine model

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between size and the continuity of energy application in interstitial laser-induced thermotherapy. Percutaneous computed tomography-guided laser ablation (30 W, 600 nm diode) of the lung was performed in 7 Yorkshire pigs; a total of 42 ablation zones were created. Twenty ablations were performed using a continuous cycle of 2 min (protocol A) and 22 ablations were performed using 4 intermittent cycles with a duration of 1 min for each cycle interrupted by a 10-s stop between the cycles (protocol B). The lung was harvested immediately after euthanasia for gross pathology and histopathologic evaluation. Statistical analysis was performed using the Student t test and the Spearman correlation coefficient. Laser ablation resulted in complete necrosis of variable size of lung. The mean ablation zone dimensions (±SD) were 1.9 (±0.4) cm × 1.4 (±0.3) cm for protocol A and 2.2 (±0.5) cm × 1.4 (±0.4) cm for protocol B. The size of the necrosis is not significantly different when comparing a continuous 2-min ablation to a 4-cycle intermittent ablation for 1 min each cycle interrupted by a 10-s stop between the cycles (P = 0.98 and 0.53, respectively).