Program Information

Image-Guided Focused Ultrasound Therapy: Advanced Modeling, Control and Treatment Strategies

M Carol

D Christensen

E Neufeld

M Carol¹*, D Christensen²*, E Neufeld³*, (1) Sonocare Medical, Charlotte, NC, (2) University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, (3) IT'IS Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society, Zurich, Zurich

TU-G-144-1 Tuesday 4:30PM - 6:00PM Room: 144

Therapeutic ultrasound is now a commercial reality with a growing number of potential clinical indications. The success of future applications will depend in part on our level of understanding of acoustic propagation within the human body and the effects ultrasound produces as interacts with various tissues and tissue interfaces. Therefore, advanced numerical/computer modeling will play a pivotal role in the development of treatment strategies, treatment planning (optimization) and real-time treatment control. This symposium will focus on current advanced modeling efforts for various anatomical sites, patient-specific modeling, modeling of effects on tissues (e.g., mechanical, thermal, non-linear propagation), therapy-specific modeling (e.g., hyperthermia, thermal ablation, drug delivery, BBB opening) as well as the associated software and hardware demands for high performance computing (e.g., real-time imaging, parallelization). Furthermore, the technological development and clinical implementation of imaged-guided high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) will be contrasted with those of stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT) highlighting the fact that many HIFU effects can be imaged in real-time and used for feedback control.

Symposium Learning Objectives:

1)Appreciate similarities and differences between image-guided HIFU therapy and SRT. What can be predicted in regard to HIFU based on the long clinical experience with SRT?
2)Understand the application of therapeutic ultrasound in various complex anatomical regions, including tradeoffs for clinical effectiveness. Learn what and how sound-tissue interactions effects can be modeled today. Learn about ultrasound modeling approaches and treatment strategies for personalized HIFU therapy.
3)Learn how model prediction techniques can improve the speed of 3D-MR temperature imaging. Understand how HIFU delivery can benefit from real-time feedback control. Learn about the development and application of multiphysics models in therapeutic ultrasound.


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