Ablative therapies of renal tumors are steadily gaining popularity in clinical practice due to the many benefits they offer to patients. Moreover, ablative procedures hold promise in the field of uro-oncology for the best compromise between low invasiveness, high efficacy and advantages in terms of procedural costs. Reported outcomes with ablative therapies for small renal tumors are excellent ...

BACKGROUND Early information on treatment response of HCC to local ablative therapy is crucial. Elastography as a non-invasive method has recently been shown to play a potential role in distinguishing between benign and malignant liver lesions. Elastography of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in early response to local ablative therapy has not been studied to date. METHODS We prospectively incl...

Montmorillonite (MMT) was added to silicone rubber (SR) to improve the ablation resistance of the silicone. Following this, different quantities of silicon carbide whiskers (SiCw) were incorporated into the MMT/SR to yield a hybrid, ablative composite. The tensile strength and elongation at break of the composite increased after the addition of MMT. The ablation test results showed that MMT hel...

BACKGROUND Striae distensae are atrophic dermal scars with overlying epidermal atrophy causing significant cosmetic concern. Although a variety of laser and light sources have been used for the treatment of striae distensae, to date no definite 'gold standard' treatment modality has been determined. OBJECTIVE To assess and compare the efficacy and safety of nonablative fractional photothermol...

UNLABELLED STUDY DESIGN/BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Currently, ablative laser therapy (with CO2/Er:YAG lasers) is considered an effective and promising method of skin rejuvenation. The induction of collagen synthesis was observed after treatments with the CO2 laser and with the long-pulsed Er:Yag laser. In past years, the undesirable side effects and risks of these methods have led to intensifie...

Economic viability of small launch vehicles, i.e., microlaunchers, is impaired by several factors, one which a higher dry to wet mass ratio as compared conventional size launchers. Although reusability may reduce cost, it can drive and/or unfeasibly high levels. In particular, for load-bearing components that are exposed convective heating during the aerothermodynamic phase re-entry, increase d...

Tumor recurrence in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after radiofrequency ablation (RFA) remains common; some studies have reported that insufficient ablative margin after RFA might contribute to HCC recurrence. The aim of this study was to investigate whether insufficient ablative safety margins determined by early computed tomography (CT) predicts HCC recurrence after RFA. This retrosp...

BACKGROUND Skin injuries, such as lacerations due to trauma, are relatively common, and patients are very concerned about the resulting scars. Recently, the use of ablative and non-ablative lasers based on the fractional approach has been used to treat scars. In this study, the authors demonstrated the efficacy and safety of ablative fractional resurfacing (AFR) for traumatic scars using a 2,94...

Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy has emerged as a standard treatment for medically inoperable stage I non-small-cell lung cancer and selected cases of lung metastasis. Techniques to freeze or limit tumour movement during treatment and image-guided radiation delivery are integral to a successful stereotactic ablative treatment without overdose of surrounding normal structures. In this article,...

BACKGROUND There is an urgent need to develop safe and effective treatments for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Several neurosurgical procedures have been developed to treat the dysfunctional brain circuits implicated in major depression. OBJECTIVES This review describes the most common ablative procedures used to treat major depressive disorder: anterior cingulotomy, subc...