Pass-Through Piston Driver for MR Elastography Assessment of Percutaneous Laser Ablation

David Arthur Woodrum¹, Jun Chen¹, Kevin J. Glaser¹, Krzysztof Gorny¹, Richard L. Ehman¹

A critical part of the tumor ablation is intra-treatment monitoring to determine whether an adequate treatment is achieved. Our hypothesis is MR elastography can be used to measure the changing stiffness of the ablation zone during and after the ablation. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of new acoustic path-thru driver at producing mechanical waves through a laser ablation applicator to the ablation zone. In vivo studies in porcine liver demonstrate that these waves can be produced and measured within the porcine liver. The stiffness at tip of laser applicator demonstrates increasing stiffness during the ablation.