Real Time Ultrasound Thermal Dose Monitoring System for Tumor Ablation Therapy

In this invention we propose a high accuracy real time ultrasound thermal dose monitoring system for tumor ablation therapy. In the tumor ablation operation, applicator guidance and ablation process monitoring are crucial, especially when the operation requires high accuracy. However, due to the low contrast between ablated and untreated tissue in the B mode image, conventional ultrasound imaging is usually not effective for the monitoring. Other imaging modalities include CT and MRI can be incorporated with the ablation therapy and provide effective image guidance and monitoring, however, the requirement of these high-end imaging equipments makes this approach unaffordable or inaccessible for a lot of patients, the radiation dose and magnetic field compatibility requirement also prevents these method being widely used . The system we proposed consists of eight different thermal dose monitoring methods based on ultrasound imaging modality to help the operator control the treatment process. One or multiple of these methods can be implemented in the tumor ablation system to provide a low cost, zero radiation dose, real-time high accuracy guidance and monitoring solution for the HIFU ablation therapy, thus reduce the risk and difficulty of the operation.

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