Evaluation of Liver Radiofrequency Ablation Lesions Using MREIT Conductivity Imaging

Hyung Joong Kim¹, Munish Chauhan¹, Woo Chul Jeong¹, Oh In Kwon², Eung Je Woo¹

Radiofrequency (RF) ablation causes thermal injury due to the resistive heating and leads to coagulation necrosis. Thermal injury may cause changes in cellular structure, concentration and mobility of ions in intra- and extra-cellular fluids, and other factors. These features could be advantageous to the MREIT technique which provides a high-resolution conductivity distribution of the human body in a non-invasive manner. Conductivity images shown in this study indicated the potential of MREIT technique following RF ablation in terms of the capability to detect ablated lesion and differentiate tissue conditions according to the different ablation exposure times and RF power levels.