Analysis of the ice front propagation in heart tissues: First results

Abstract

Experimental tests were conducted simultaneously using an infrared (IR) camera and a standard camera in the visible range (VR) to detect the ice front propagation as a function of time and space in different sections of pig heart laid on the surface of a cold spherical aluminum source (30 mm in diameter). The goal of the experiments was to simulate the conditions during the medical practice of internal cryotherapy, which aims to eliminate the tissues responsible for atrial fibrillation in the human heart. Freezing temperatures and related times were also measured, although they were affected by several uncertainties associated with the tests, such as air trapping between the metal sphere and flesh, inhomogeneity of the flesh samples, and the low spatial resolution and accuracy of the IR camera. A comparison with the results of previously conducted numerical simulations (Potenza et al., 2023) [1] is also discussed.