OBJECTIVE Laxity of cheek and neck skin is a common cosmetic complaint of patients as they age. Improvement of skin laxity can be difficult to achieve without invasive surgical lifting procedures. The object of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a novel nonablative radiofrequency device in the treatment of cheek and neck laxity. METHODS Fifty patients (skin phototypes I to ...

BACKGROUND Disc Biacuplasty is a procedure for treating discogenic pain through neuron ablation by heating intervertebral disc tissue using cooled, bipolar radiofrequency (RF) technology. This study demonstrates temperature profiles created by disc biacuplasty in human cadavers. OBJECTIVE To assess temperature profiles created by disc biacuplasty in human cadaver discs. DESIGN The design of...

BACKGROUND Radiofrequency ablation is extensively used to achieve pulmonary veins isolation for the cure of atrial fibrillation. Luminal esophageal temperature can be monitored by means of suitable probes to prevent the onset of lesions. OBJECTIVE To compute the thermal field generated by the ablation, to investigate the interaction between the electromagnetic field and the probe sensors, and...

PURPOSE To investigate heating during postimplantation localization of intracranial electroencephalograph (EEG) electrodes by MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS A phantom patient with a realistic arrangement of electrodes was used to simulate tissue heating during MRI. Measurements were performed using 1.5 Tesla (T) and 3T MRI scanners, using head- and body-transmit RF-coils. Two electrode-lead confi...

The development of suitable contrast agents can significantly enhance the efficiency of modern imaging and treatment techniques, such as thermoacoustic (TA) tomography and radio-frequency (RF) hyperthermia of cancer. Here, we examine the heating of aqueous suspensions of silicon (Si) and gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) under RF irradiation in the MHz frequency range. The heating rate of aqueous s...

The emu, a large bipedal bird with hip joint biomechanics similar to humans, was used to establish an experimental model of femoral head osteonecrosis and subsequent femoral head collapse. Focal lesions were induced in 20 adult male emus using an alternating liquid nitrogen freezing and radiofrequency heating insult. At 2, 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks post-surgery, hip magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of mortality from cancer in the United States. Death from colorectal cancer usually results from metastatic disease to the liver. Complete surgical resection is the only potentially curative treatment option for metastatic colorectal cancer to the liver, with a five-year survival rate of approximately 30%-40%. The addition of adjuvant systemic or he...

A radiofrequency field (RF) field exists inside body tissue during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). If any implanted medical device is present, there can be a very intense concentration of the scattered RF field in the tissue surrounding certain parts of the implant. This causes tissue heating that can reach dangerous levels. Scattered field considerations show that it is possible to neglect t...

AIM This study sets out to test the biocompatibility of titanium clips in liver, in the presence of radiofrequency. Biocompatibility is assessed at various distances from the RF electrode and different points in time. METHOD It is an experimental study conducted on pigs and makes use of histological changes that occur at the liver-titanium interface in presence of RF to test hypotheses. The t...