Real-time detection of HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound) induced thermal coaulation by ultrasonic imaging

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25282149
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Medical systems
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Umemura Shin-ichiro 東北大学, 医工学研究科, 教授 (20402787)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YOSHIZAWA SHIN 東北大学, 大学院工学研究科, 准教授 (30455802)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 集束超音波治療 / 熱凝固 / 実時間検出 / 超音波散乱 / 超音波イメージング / 超音波エコー / 相関係数

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In noninvasive therapy such as HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound) treatment, a noninvasive imaging method to aim and monitor the tissue to be treated is essential because the surgeon cannot looked at the tissue by naked eye. Ultrasonic imaging has advantages that the deflection due to non-uniformity in sound speed can be inherently corrected and that real-time imaging can achieved at a relatively low cost, but temperature mapping is significantly more difficult than MRI in principle. Therefore, we looked at the fact that the correlation between ultrasonic echo images before and after thermal coagulation significantly decreases because of the change in backscatter of the tissue. As the result of this study, we succeeded in real-time detection of HIFU-induced thermal coagulation of tissue by real-time mapping of maximum correlation coefficient between the ultrasonic RF images obtained using high-speed ultrasonic imaging.

Free Research Field

医用超音波工学