Conformal Bulk Ablation And Therapy Monitoring Using Intracorporeal Image-Treat Ultrasound Arrays

Abstract

For thermal treatment of soft tissue, an alternative to HIFU is bulk ablation using unfocused or weakly focused intense ultrasound fields. This approach offers faster ablation of large tissue volumes and can be performed in minimally invasive (e.g., laparoscopic or percutaneous) procedures. Here, methods for image-guided ablation of large tissue volumes using compact dual-modality (image and treat) ultrasound arrays are reported including tissue modification caused by the thermal therapy. The dual-modality arrays developed have 16-64 elements spanning apertures of 2-8 mm in elevation and 24-48 mm in azimuth. These devices can provide both therapeutically significant power (e.g. source intensity > 80 W/cm 2 at 3.1 MHz) and broad bandwidth (e.g. 50% with a center frequency of 3.5 MHz) for imaging. Imaging challenges associated with limited probe dimensions and channel count are met using signal processing techniques that improve definition and contrast, allowing high-quality B-scan images and useful monitoring information to be obtained during therapy planning and treatment. Using linear and rotational scanning methods, large tissue volumes (20-60 cc) can be treated. The approach can be applied for ablation of other soft tissue pathologies, e.g., kidney, heart, uterus, brain, GI, etc.