Estimation of Ultrasound Induced Heat Generationfor Therapeutic Applications

Abstract

The use of ultrasound for therapeutic applications has been increasingly examined mostly because of its noninvasive nature. Though many experimental studies have been conducted to verify the feasibility of the method, no correlations predicting the ultrasonic parameters required to generate prescribed volumetric heat generation rates. In this study, heat generated due to propagation of ultrasound, in soft tissue mimicking material, is examined. Using numerical methods, pressure fields are first computed for different source geometries, signal frequencies, and signal waveforms. Volumetric heat generation rates are then calculated from the computed pressures. The Klinger and Pennes bioheat transfer models are used to compute the temperature distributions. Results from this study will be useful in estimating the volumetric heat generation fields from prescribed ultrasound parameters, which in turn can be used to design ultrasound devices as well as treatment protocols for a variety of therapeutic applications.