Percutaneous CT-Guided Cryovagotomy

There are a number of pathologic conditions in the human body that may be modified by the interruption of neural signaling, both related to pain and otherwise. Many of these treatments currently involve implantable neuromodulation or frank surgical neural ligation, representing opportunities for the implementation of percutaneous device-mediated cryoneurolysis in interventional radiology. Computed tomography-guided cryovagotomy for the management of mild to moderate obesity represents one such opportunity currently under investigation. This procedure is designed to attenuate hunger signals by targeting the posterior vagal trunk using computed tomography for cryoablation with a needle, based on historical surgical and electrical vagotomy experience. Future investigations of this technique and others will expand and iterate the concept of percutaneous, image-guided cryoneurolysis as potential management for a wide variety of clinical challenges.