Infrared thermal imaging controls freezing and warming in skin cryoablation

The purpose of this study was to assess the possibilities of intraoperative control of the current parameters of frozen biological tissues in the cryoablation area, including the instant location of primary necrosis isotherm, based on the dynamics of thermal fields on skin surface. Cryoablation of skin was performed in 30 rats with exposure durations of 0.5, 1 and 2 min. The contact cryoprobe actively cooled with liquid nitrogen was used. The dynamics of animal's skin thermal field during freeze/thaw cycle was quantitatively controlled by the original infrared camera with an extended range of measurable temperatures. The obtained by us ratio of the maximal diameters of primary necrosis and ice spots was 0.64 ± 0.03 for cryoexposure durations of 0.5 and 1 min. During thawing, a quasi-stable stage was observed both in the dynamics of ice spot diameters and their temperature distribution. The effect is presumably associated with structural rearrangements of ice in the frozen tissue volume. The results indicate that thermal imaging can be effectively used for quantitative control of freezing and warming of biological tissues in vivo, including current control of the position of necrotic and cryoscopic isotherms, distortion of their thermal symmetry, thermal response of other skin areas, etc.