15 articles
Ablation Techniques
Ablation techniques are medical procedures that destroy targeted tissue using heat, extreme cold, chemicals, or lasers instead of surgical excision, in treatments such as radiofrequency and cryoablation of cardiac arrhythmias and tumors.
Cerebral Decortication
Cerebral decortication is partial or total removal, ablation, or chemical destruction of the cerebral cortex, mainly an experimental mammalian preparation; its clinical descendant is hemispherectomy for epilepsy, and decorticate posturing is the related coma sign.
Chemical ablation
Chemical ablation is a medical treatment that destroys abnormal tissue, such as tumors, cysts, or cardiac conduction pathways, by injecting a chemically toxic agent, usually absolute ethanol.
Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery is a surgical technique that destroys abnormal tissue by freezing it, used for skin lesions and cancers of the skin, prostate, kidney, and liver.
Devascularization (surgery)
Devascularization is a surgical technique that deliberately cuts or removes the blood supply to an organ or tissue, most often to stop bleeding from gastroesophageal varices or postpartum hemorrhage.
Electrochemotherapy
Electrochemotherapy is a local cancer treatment that combines high-voltage electric pulses with bleomycin or cisplatin, used mainly for cutaneous tumor nodules, achieving response rates near 80%.
Electrocoagulation
Electrocoagulation is a surgical technique that heats tissue with high-frequency alternating current, used to coagulate blood vessels, stop bleeding, or cut tissue during endoscopic and open surgery.
Electrosurgery
Electrosurgery is the use of high-frequency alternating electric current to cut, coagulate, or destroy tissue during surgical and endoscopic procedures, used across general surgery, endoscopy, and dermatology.
Focal ablation
Focal ablation is an image-guided treatment that destroys a localized lesion, usually a tumor, by delivering heat, cold, radiation, ultrasound, or chemicals while leaving surrounding tissue intact.
HIFU ablation
HIFU ablation is a noninvasive treatment using focused high-intensity ultrasound beams to heat and destroy targeted tissue, such as tumors, guided by MRI or ultrasound.
Histotripsy
Histotripsy is a noninvasive ablation method that uses focused, high-intensity ultrasound pulses to mechanically fractionate targeted soft tissue without incisions, FDA-authorized for liver tumor destruction in October 2023.
Percutaneous ethanol injection
Percutaneous ethanol injection, also known as ethanol ablation, injects 95–99% sterile ethanol into lesions under imaging guidance, used mainly for small liver cancers and cystic thyroid nodules.
Thermal ablation therapy
Thermal ablation therapy is a minimally invasive cancer treatment that destroys tumors in place with heat or extreme cold, using radiofrequency, microwave, laser, focused ultrasound, or cryoablation.
Ultrasonic Surgical Procedures
Ultrasonic surgical procedures (ultrasonic surgery, ultrasound surgery) use 20-60 kHz high-energy shock waves to cut, fragment, or remove tissue by mechanical cavitation rather than heat, via devices such as the HARMONIC scalpel, ultrasonic aspirators, and phacoemulsification.
Ultrasound, High-Intensity Focused, Transrectal
Transrectal high-intensity focused ultrasound (transrectal HIFU) ablates prostate tissue via a rectal transducer, treating prostate cancer and BPH; devices include Ablatherm and Sonablate, FDA-cleared since 2015.