Monitoring and guidance of minimally-invasive thermal therapy using diagnostic ultrasound

We present specialized ultrasound imaging modes for monitoring and guidance of noninvasive and minimally-invasive thermal therapy. One mode is based on two-dimensional imaging of temperature change using diagnostic ultrasound. We have validated this method both in vivo and in vitro in monitoring the heating patterns produced by non-invasive HIFU source and minimally-invasive RF ablation device, respectively. In addition, a nonlinear method for imaging the quadratic echo components from HIFU-induced lesions has also been developed and tested in vivo. Illustrative results from both modes of imaging are presented. These results demonstrate the unique advantages of ultrasound as an image-guidance modality. Specifically, the high spatial and temporal resolutions that allow for imaging highly-localized short-duration therapeutic and sub-therapeutic HIFU beams. With the advent of high-performance computing hardware, these imaging modes are now implementable in real-time. This will lead to active real-time monitoring and control of a range of thermal therapies in the very near future.