Multi-Probe Cryosurgical Configurations Extract Significantly Less Energy per Probe Than Single Probe Configurations: Implications for Clinical Cryosurgery

In the present study, the interaction between different cryoprobes was investigated in multi-probe configurations. Using a careful experimental and computational approach we show here that the ability of a single probe to cool (i.e. the cooling power of a probe governed by convective cooling of the cryogen within the probe) is greatly reduced in a simple dual probe configuration with 1.0–2.0 cm separation of these probes over the single probe case. One approach that shows promise for predicting multi-probe performance is the use of a “weighting factor” that governs this loss of cooling power in a given probe.