TY - JOUR
T1 - Real-time volumetric thermoacoustic imaging and thermometry using a 1.5-D ultrasound array
AU - Karunakaran, Chandra
AU - Zhao, Hongbo
AU - Xin, Hao
AU - Witte, Russell S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received July 28, 2020; accepted October 18, 2020. Date of publication November 16, 2020; date of current version March 26, 2021. This work was supported by DOD CDMRP under Grant #W81XWH-16-1-0423. (Corresponding author: Chandra Karunakaran.) Chandra Karunakaran was with the Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ USA. She is now with the Department of Radiation Oncology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461 USA.
Publisher Copyright:
© 1986-2012 IEEE.
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - Noninvasive thermal therapies for the treatment of breast cancer depend on accurate monitoring of tissue temperature to optimize treatment and ensure safety. This work describes a real-time system for 3-D thermoacoustic imaging and thermometry (TAI-TAT) for tracking temperature in tissue samples during heating. The study combines a 2.7-GHz microwave pulse generator with a custom 1.5-D 0.6 MHz ultrasound array for generating and detecting TA signals. The system is tested and validated on slabs of biological tissue and saline gel during heating. Calibration curves for relating the TA signal to temperature were calculated in saline gel (3.40%/°C), muscle (1.73%/°C), and fat (1.15%/°C), respectively. The calibrations were used to produce real-time, volumetric temperature maps at 3-s intervals with a spatial resolution of approximately 3 mm. TAT temperature changes within a region of interest were compared to adjacent thermocouples with a mean error of 17.3%, 13.2%, and 20.4% for muscle, gel, and fat, respectively. The TAT algorithm was also able to simultaneously track temperatures in different tissues. With further development, noninvasive TAI-TAT may prove to be a valuable method for accurate and real-time feedback during breast cancer ablation therapy.
AB - Noninvasive thermal therapies for the treatment of breast cancer depend on accurate monitoring of tissue temperature to optimize treatment and ensure safety. This work describes a real-time system for 3-D thermoacoustic imaging and thermometry (TAI-TAT) for tracking temperature in tissue samples during heating. The study combines a 2.7-GHz microwave pulse generator with a custom 1.5-D 0.6 MHz ultrasound array for generating and detecting TA signals. The system is tested and validated on slabs of biological tissue and saline gel during heating. Calibration curves for relating the TA signal to temperature were calculated in saline gel (3.40%/°C), muscle (1.73%/°C), and fat (1.15%/°C), respectively. The calibrations were used to produce real-time, volumetric temperature maps at 3-s intervals with a spatial resolution of approximately 3 mm. TAT temperature changes within a region of interest were compared to adjacent thermocouples with a mean error of 17.3%, 13.2%, and 20.4% for muscle, gel, and fat, respectively. The TAT algorithm was also able to simultaneously track temperatures in different tissues. With further development, noninvasive TAI-TAT may prove to be a valuable method for accurate and real-time feedback during breast cancer ablation therapy.
KW - Breast cancer
KW - Focused microwave therapy (FMT)
KW - High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)
KW - Hyperthermia
KW - Radio frequency ablation
KW - Thermal therapy
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U2 - 10.1109/TUFFC.2020.3038053
DO - 10.1109/TUFFC.2020.3038053
M3 - Article
C2 - 33196438
AN - SCOPUS:85098751482
SN - 0885-3010
VL - 68
SP - 1234
EP - 1244
JO - IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
JF - IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
IS - 4
M1 - 9260153
ER -