BACKGROUND Ablation lesion depth caused by radiofrequency-based renal denervation (RDN) was limited to <4 mm in previous animal studies, suggesting that radiofrequency-RDN cannot ablate a substantial percentage of renal sympathetic nerves. We aimed to define the true lesion depth achieved with radiofrequency-RDN using a fine sectioning method and to investigate biophysical parameters that could...

BACKGROUND Radiofrequency ablation is an established but expensive treatment option for many forms of supraventricular tachycardia. Most cases of supraventricular tachycardia are not life-threatening; the goal of therapy is therefore to improve the patient's quality of life. OBJECTIVE To compare the cost-effectiveness of radiofrequency ablation with that of medical management of supraventricu...

A phytochemical investigation of a southern Australian marine brown alga, Sargassum paradoxum, resulted in the isolation and identification of four new (5, 9, 10, and 15) and nine previously reported (1, 2, 6-8, and 11-14) bioactive meroditerpenoids. HPLC-NMR and HPLC-MS were central to the identification of a new unstable compound, sargahydroquinal (9), and pivotal in the deconvolution of eigh...

OBJECTIVE To compare the outcome of cryothermal and radiofrequency energy transcatheter ablation of atrioventricular junctional re-entrant tachycardia in children and adolescents. DESIGN Case series with internal comparison. SETTING Two hospitals in Hong Kong. PATIENTS Consecutive transcatheter ablation procedures for atrioventricular junctional re-entrant tachycardia in children and adol...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of different bipolar radiofrequency system algorithms in interrupting the renal sympathetic nerves and reducing renal norepinephrine in a healthy porcine model. METHODS A porcine model (N = 46) was used to investigate renal norepinephrine levels and changes to renal artery tissues and nerves following percutaneous renal denervation with radio...

BACKGROUND In selected patients with hypertension, renal artery (RA) stenting is used to treat significant atherosclerotic stenoses. However, blood pressure often remains uncontrolled after the procedure. Although catheter-based renal denervation (RDN) can reduce blood pressure in certain patients with resistant hypertension, there are no data on the feasibility and safety of RDN in stented RA....

BACKGROUND Radiofrequency ablation inside pulmonary vein (PV) ostia can cause PV stenosis. A novel alternative method of ablation is irreversible electroporation, but the long-term response of PVs to electroporation ablation is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS In ten 6-month-old pigs (60-75 kg), the response of PVs to circular electroporation and radiofrequency ablation was compared. Ten consecut...

BACKGROUND To evaluate the potential effects of irreversible electroporation ablation on the Achilles tendon in a rabbit model and to compare the histopathological and biomechanical changes between specimens following electroporation ablation and radiofrequency ablation. METHODS A total of 140 six-month-old male New Zealand rabbits were used. The animals were randomly divided into two groups,...

Radiofrequency cautery is widely used in minor surgery. However, it has not been considered to fit for major surgery. Herein, we report two cases of pneumothorax surgery using lowthermal coagulation by this general-purpose radiofrequency cautery device. Case 1: A 47-year-old male underwent bullectomy with a general radiofrequency cautery. We used Elleman® Surgitron PellevéTM S5 (Elleman Interna...

Fractional Erbium:Glass 1550nm laser is a fractional photothemolysis (FP) laser with high effectiveness in atrophic acne scars treatment. Recently, fractional bipolar radiofrequency (RF) has been introduced to improve the efficacy and reduce side effects of the FP. Objective: The objective of the study was to compare the effectiveness and side effects of fractional bipolar radiofrequency with f...