Abstract #4047

Prolonged Signal Decay in the Ablated Area After Radiofrequency Ablation in the Ferucarbotran-Administered Liver: A Basic Experimental Study for the Visualization of Ablative Margins in a Rabbit Model

Kensaku Mori^1,2, Masayuki Yamaguchi², Hirofumi Fujii², Ryutaro Nakagami^2,3, Toshihiro Furuta^2,4, Manabu Minami¹

¹Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; ²Functional Imaging Division, National Cancer Center East Hospital, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan; ³Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Arakawa, Tokyo, Japan; ⁴Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan

The assessment of ablative margins is critical to predict the local recurrence of malignant hepatic lesions after radiofrequency ablation (RFA). The following is a method to distinguish ablative margins from tumors and non-ablated hepatic tissue. We hypothesized that if RFA is performed on the ferucarbotran-administered liver, the signal decay of the ablated liver parenchyma will be prolonged because of impaired ferucarbotran clearance. After RFA, the ablated area appeared hypointense for 4 weeks in all 4 rabbits in the ferucarbotran group and in 1 of the 3 control rabbits. The mean contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) significantly differed between the 2 groups.