Precise Control of Frozen Region During Cryosurgery Utilizing Peltier Effect

In cryosurgery, it is necessary to control heat transfer precisely and actively in order to necrotize diseased part effectively and to avoid freezing healthy tissues. In order to control heat transfer, the cryoprobe utilizing peltier module was developed. This cryoprobe makes it possible to control cooling and heating rate actively and precisely due to peltier effect. Therefore, it is convenient to control the size of cell-destroyed area. In order to confirm cooling performance of the cryoprobe, gelatin cooling experiment and animal experiment was conducted. From the results, it can be said that this cryoprobe has enough cooling performance to destroy undesirable cell and it can control cooling and heating rate actively. Numerical simulation which considers biological heat production, freezing of tissue and peltier effect at same time was developed in order to evaluate frozen region or necrotized area, which are difficult to be measured.