The Emprint™ Ablation System with Thermosphere™ Technology: One of the Newer Next-Generation Microwave Ablation Technologies

Abstract

Microwave ablation is a recent development in the field of tumor ablation that uses electromagnetic waves to establish a microwave near-field with direct tissue heating. Some of the limitations of the earlier generation devices had been unpredictable size and shape of the ablation zones with changes in the surrounding tissue environment as well as differences across various different tissue types. The Emprint Ablation System with Thermosphere Technology (Covidien, Boulder, CO) is the most recent generation ablation system that attempts to produce predictable large spherical zones of ablation despite varying tissue environments across different tissue types such as liver, lung, and bone to name a few. This article will discuss these recent device developments as well as review some basic microwave characteristics.

A comparison between 915 MHz and 2450 MHz microwave ablation systems for the treatment of small diameter lung metastases

“…In addition to the previously mentioned devices, the Covidien HF Emprint system was released in Europe and the USA in 2014 (12). Other devices are available only on the Asian markets (6).…”

“…Completely cooling the active tip increases antenna reliability and prevents tissue sticking (thermal control). The homogeneous environment around the radiator also prevents the wavelength changes caused by tissue desiccation close to the active tip, thus avoiding comet-shaped ablations (wavelength control) (11,12,17).…”

High power microwave ablation of normal swine lung: impact of duration of energy delivery on adverse event and heat sink effects

“…Studies were performed in a swine lung model in vivo with the Emprint™ Ablation System incorporating the Thermosphere™ Technology (Medtronic, Boulder, Colorado) in a prospective study approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The Thermosphere MWA system (2,450 Mhz/100W) was designed to produce spherical zones of ablation based on three types of energy control (thermal, field, and wavelength control) [18].…”

Efficacy of microwave ablation versus radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma: a propensity score analysis

“…Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is widely used in thermal ablation, and most largescale HCC trials have been performed using RFA [7][8][9]. More recently, the Emprint Ablation System™ (Covidien), a microwave ablation (MWA) system with new technology, has gained increased attention [10,11]. This new system opens up an interesting perspective as to the optimal selection of ablation modalities for local therapy for HCC.…”