ablation
Meaning of ablation: The appeal is precision: a defined volume of tissue is destroyed where it lies, sparing the wider operation removing it would require.
Definition of ablation
Ablation is the destruction or removal of tissue, or the deliberate shutting down of a tissue's function, achieved without conventional surgical cutting. Heat, extreme cold, chemicals, lasers and radiofrequency energy can each be used, chosen to suit the target. The word also covers surgical removal in some settings and the suppression of a hormone-producing function in others.
What methods are used?
| Method | How it destroys tissue | Common settings |
|---|---|---|
| Radiofrequency | Alternating current heats the tissue around an inserted probe | Heart rhythm disorders, liver and kidney tumors |
| Microwave | A rapidly oscillating field heats water inside the tissue | Liver and lung tumors |
| Freezing | Repeated freezing and thawing ruptures cells | Kidney and prostate tumors, some rhythm disorders |
| Chemical | Injected alcohol dries out and kills cells directly | Small liver tumors, some thyroid nodules |
| Laser | Focused light absorbed as heat | Surface lesions, airway and eye work |
How does it differ from surgery?
Removing tissue surgically means reaching it, cutting it free and taking it out, which requires an opening large enough for the specimen and for instruments. Ablation leaves the tissue where it is and kills it in place, so access can be through a needle passed under imaging guidance, a catheter threaded along a blood vessel, or an endoscope. The dead tissue is then broken down and cleared by the body over weeks to months, often leaving a scar or a shrinking area visible on later scans. Two trade-offs follow. Nothing is removed for a pathologist to examine, so any tissue diagnosis has to be obtained separately beforehand. And the treated zone has to cover the whole target, since a rim of surviving tissue at the edge is the usual reason an abnormality returns in the same place.
Does it always mean destroying tissue?
No. The word is also used for eliminating a function rather than a structure. Androgen ablation means suppressing the body's production or action of male hormones, whether by medication or by surgery. Bone marrow ablation means wiping out the marrow's blood-forming activity so that replacement cells can take hold. In cardiology the target is electrical rather than anatomic: a catheter destroys the small patch of heart muscle generating or conducting an abnormal rhythm, and success is judged by whether the rhythm stops, not by how much tissue was destroyed.
Used in a sentence
The patient underwent catheter ablation to treat a recurrent abnormal heart rhythm.
Good to know
Cardiac ablation targets the small area of heart tissue generating or conducting an abnormal rhythm, which distinguishes it from ablation used elsewhere in medicine to destroy a tumor or other abnormal tissue directly.
Word origin
Where “ablation” comes from
From Latin ablatio, meaning a taking away, formed from ab-, meaning away, and latus, the past participle of ferre, meaning to carry.