Real-time 3D thermoacoustic imaging and thermometry using a self-calibration technique

Thermoacoustic (TA) imaging is a modality where pulsed microwaves are used to generate ultrasound waves in tissue, which are highly correlated with temperature. This study uses a self-calibration approach to improve the estimation of temperature using 3D real-time TA thermometry in porcine tissue during localized heating. The self-calibration method estimated temperatures at eight embedded thermocouple locations with a normalized root-mean-square error of 3.25 ± 2.08%. The results demonstrate that the method has the suitable accuracy and resolution to provide feedback control for breast cancer ablation therapy.