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A method for focusing high intensity ultrasound through a rib cage that aims to minimize heating of the ribs whilst maintaining high intensities at the focus (or foci) is proposed and tested theoretically and experimentally. Two approaches, one based on geometric acoustics and the other accounting for diffraction effects associated with propagation through the rib cage, are investigated theoretically for idealized source conditions. It is shown that for an idealized radiator the diffraction approach provides a 23% gain in peak intensity and results in significantly less power losses on the ribs (1% versus 7.5% of the irradiated power) compared with the geometric one. A 2D 1-MHz phased array with 254 randomly distributed elements, tissue mimicking phantoms, and samples of porcine rib cages are used in experiments; the geometric approach is used to configure how the array is driven. Intensity distributions are measured in the plane of the ribs and in the focal plane using an infra-red camera. Theoretical and experimental results show that it is possible to provide adequate focusing through the ribs without overheating them for a single focus and several foci, including steering at ± 10–15 mm off and ± 20 mm along the array axis. Focus splitting due to the periodic spatial structure of ribs is demonstrated both in simulations and experiments; the parameters of splitting are quantified. The ability to produce thermal lesions with a split focal pattern in ex vivo porcine tissue placed beyond the rib phantom is also demonstrated. The results suggest that the method is potentially useful for clinical applications of HIFU for which the rib cage lies between the transducer(s) and the targeted tissue.

Computer modeling of spherical-section phased arrays for ultrasound surgery (tissue ablation) is described. The influence on performance of the number of circular elements (68 to 1024), their diameter (2.5 to 10 mm), frequency (1 to 2 MHz), and degree of sparseness in the array is investigated for elements distributed randomly or in square, annular, and hexagonal patterns on a spherical shell (radius of curvature, 120 mm). Criteria for evaluating the quality of the intensity distributions obtained when focusing the arrays both on and away from their center of curvature, and in both single focus and simultaneous multiple foci modes, are proposed. Of the arrays studied, the most favorable performance, for both modes, is predicted for 256 5-mm diameter, randomly distributed elements. For the single focus mode, this performed better than regular arrays of 255 to 1024 elements and, for the case of nine simultaneous foci produced on a coplanar 3x3 grid with 4-mm spacing, better than square, hexagonal, or annular distributed arrays with a comparable number of elements. Randomization improved performance by suppressing grating lobes significantly. For single focus mode, a several-fold decrease in the number of elements could be made without degrading the quality of the intensity distribution.

Randomized phased arrays can offer electronic steering of a single focus and simultaneous multiple foci concomitant with low levels of secondary maxima and are potentially useful as sources of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). This work describes laboratory testing of a 1 MHz random phased array consisting of 254 elements on a spherical shell of radius of curvature 130 mm and diameter 170 mm. Acoustic output power and efficiency are measured for a range of input electrical powers, and field distributions for various single- and multiple-focus conditions are evaluated by a novel technique using an infrared camera to provide rapid imaging of temperature changes on the surface of an absorbing target. Experimental results show that the array can steer a single focus laterally to at least +/-15 mm off axis and axially to more than +/-15 mm from the centre of curvature of the array and patterns of four and five simultaneous foci +/-10 mm laterally and axially whilst maintaining low intensity levels in secondary maxima away from the targeted area in good agreement with linear theoretical predictions. Experiments in which pork meat was thermally ablated indicate that contiguous lesions several cm(3) in volume can be produced using the patterns of multiple foci.

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