Laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) has been widely studied since it is a minimally invasive technique for focal destruction of liver tumors without side effects. However, there are still some concerns about the treatment and monitoring thermal effects during operation. Although real-time imaging modalities are available, like magnetic resonance imaging, they are not cost-effective and not applicable to all conditions. This paper presents artificial neural network (ANN) modeling of laser-induced thermal damages on ex vivo liver tissue. In this work three laser sources, i.e. a diode pumped laser with a wavelength of 980 nm, a 1070 nm yttrium lithium fluoride fiber laser, and a 1940 nm thulium fiber laser, were used in order to thermally damage tissues by applying the laser until coagulation observed. The diameter and depth of coagulation were empirically measured and used to train the ANN model by finding the correlation between laser parameters (application time, power, penetration depth, wavelength, and spot size) and thermal damages. Thermal damage can be determined by observing coagulation diameter and coagulation depth. The prediction ability and accuracy of the trained ANN model were tested by comparing the actual and simulated results. Our result showed that the ANN successfully predicts LITT damage in terms of coagulation diameter and coagulation depth, with a very high accuracy. The trained ANN model was compared with two mathematical models. In terms of performance, the ANN is a very useful and practical tool for determining LITT damage.

Laser exposure time and irradiance are crucial parameters governing the process of thermal damage. The goal of our in vitro study was to study and determine optimal parameters for the onset of coagulation and carbonization at three different wavelengths (980, 1070 and 1940 nm). We also compared photothermal effects at these three wavelengths by varying laser exposure time and irradiance. Fresh bovine liver specimens were used for experimentation. The onset of thermal damage at different irradiances and for different exposure time was studied macroscopically and histologically. Photothermal damage or lesion volume generally decreased with irradiance and increasing exposure time. We observed an exponential and linear relationship between irradiance and exposure time for specific thermal endpoints. These specific endpoints were the onset of (i) coagulation, and (ii) carbonization. The time interval or difference between these specific endpoints termed as Δt (t carbonization − t coagulation ) (s) was also determined. This relation between irradiance and exposure time will make possible the pre-estimation of thermal tissue lesion volume before operation, and photothermal therapy may thus be performed with minimum side effects on liver tissue.

This paper presents fabrication and packaging of a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) using anodically bondable low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC). Anodic bonding of LTCC with Au vias-silicon on insulator (SOI) has been used to fabricate CMUTs with different membrane radii, 24 µm, 25 µm, 36 µm, 40 µm and 60 µm. Bottom electrodes were directly patterned on remained vias after wet etching of LTCC vias. CMUT cavities and Au bumps were micromachined on the Si part of the SOI wafer. This high conductive Si was also used as top electrode. Electrical connections between the top and bottom of the CMUT were achieved by Au-Au bonding of wet etched LTCC vias and bumps during anodic bonding. Three key parameters, infrared images, complex admittance plots, and static membrane displacement, were used to evaluate bonding success. CMUTs with a membrane thickness of 2.6 µm were fabricated for experimental analyses. A novel CMUT-IC packaging process has been described following the fabrication process. This process enables indirect packaging of the CMUT and integrated circuit (IC) using a lateral side via of LTCC. Lateral side vias were obtained by micromachining of fabricated CMUTs and used to drive CMUTs elements. Connection electrodes are patterned on LTCC side via and a catheter was assembled at the backside of the CMUT. The IC was mounted on the bonding pad on the catheter by a flip-chip bonding process. Bonding performance was evaluated by measurement of bond resistance between pads on the IC and catheter. This study demonstrates that the LTCC and LTCC side vias scheme can be a potential approach for high density CMUT array fabrication and indirect integration of CMUT-IC for miniature size packaging, which eliminates problems related with direct integration.

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