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Determining temperature distribution in tissue in the focal plane of the high (> 100 W/cm(2)) intensity focused ultrasound beam using phase shift of ultrasound echoes
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Determining temperature distribution in tissue in the focal plane of the high (> 100 W/cm(2)) intensity focused ultrasound beam using phase shift of ultrasound echoes

Piotr Karwat, Tamara Kujawska, Peter A. Lewin, Wojciech Secomski, Barbara Gambin and Jerzy Litniewski
Ultrasonics, v 65, pp 211-219
01 Feb 2016
PMID: 26498063

Abstract

Life Sciences & Biomedicine Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging Science & Technology Acoustics Technology
In therapeutic applications of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) the guidance of the HIFU beam and especially its focal plane is of crucial importance. This guidance is needed to appropriately target the focal plane and hence the whole focal volume inside the tumor tissue prior to thermo-ablative treatment and beginning of tissue necrosis. This is currently done using Magnetic Resonance Imaging that is relatively expensive. In this study an ultrasound method, which calculates the variations of speed of sound in the locally heated tissue volume by analyzing the phase shifts of echo-signals received by an ultrasound scanner from this very volume is presented. To improve spatial resolution of B-mode imaging and minimize the uncertainty of temperature estimation the acoustic signals were transmitted and received by 8 MHz linear phased array employing Synthetic Transmit Aperture (STA) technique. Initially, the validity of the algorithm developed was verified experimentally in a tissue-mimicking phantom heated from 20.6 to 48.6 degrees C. Subsequently, the method was tested using a pork loin sample heated locally by a 2 MHz pulsed HIFU beam with focal intensity I-SATA of 129 W/cm(2). The temperature calibration of 2D maps of changes in the sound velocity induced by heating was performed by comparison of the algorithm-determined changes in the sound velocity with the temperatures measured by thermocouples located in the heated tissue volume. The method developed enabled ultrasound temperature imaging of the heated tissue volume from the very inception of heating with the contrast-to-noise ratio of 3.5-12 dB in the temperature range 21-56 degrees C. Concurrently performed, conventional B-mode imaging revealed CNR close to zero dB until the temperature reached 50 degrees C causing necrosis. The data presented suggest that the proposed method could offer an alternative to MRI-guided temperature imaging for prediction of the location and extent of the thermal lesion prior to applying the final HIFU treatment. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Acoustics
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
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