Glacier Medical

Gallbladder Cryoablation

Principal Investigator: Miles Conrad, MD, MPH & Hugh McGregor, MD

Challenge

Cholecystectomy for gallstone disease is one of the most commonly performed surgeries yet many patients are not candidates for surgery due to comorbidities. Gallbladder cryoablation is a minimally invasive, percutaneous, image-guided alternative to surgical cholecystectomy in which a needle is inserted from a skin puncture into the gallbladder. The gallbladder wall is then frozen which results in scarring, contraction, and involution.  

Solution

This project will focus on the development of a working prototype to perform cryoablation of the gallbladder efficiently, safely, and effectively. A smaller focus of the project will be to develop an injectable expanding hydrogel foam that can be used to hydrodissect the gallbladder thereby displacing it from bowel and insulating the freezing. The intention of this foam is to make the cryoablation safer. Three beta prototypes will be developed and tested in ex vivo gallbladder samples. A final prototype will be selected and a used to perform in vivo studies in porcine models.  

Honors & Awards

Surgical Innovations Accelerator (Fall 2018)