THREE DIMENSIONAL COMPUTERIZED PLANNING/EVALUATING OF MULTI-PROBE CRYOSURGERY FOR IRREGULARLY SHAPED TUMOR

摘要

To perform a cryosurgical procedure successfully, it is important to carefully design the optimal freezing parameters (such as the number and locations of cryoprobes) before cryosurgery. Failure to do so accurately could lead to either insufficient or excessive freezing. Due to the irregularly shaped tumors commonly encountered in clinics, multiple cryoprobes are often needed, which makes the parameter optimization rather difficult. Computerized planning tools would help to alleviate this difficulty. In this study, a three-dimensional cryosurgery planning tool is developed, based on the numerical algorithm presented in our recent works. This tool is general and especially suitable for the treatment planning of tumor with complex geometry. Furthermore, evaluating the rationality of a given treatment protocol (i.e., confirming whether it can obtain the optimal cryolesion within a predefined tumor region or not) is an additional function of the present tool. For demonstration purposes, several examples for typical cryosurgery cases using multiple cryoprobes are given and interpreted.