Ultrasonic applicator with direct acoustical coupling for interstitial heating

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In this proposal, we offer to develop a device that may be useful for heating in tissues with therapeutic goal.  For that purpose, the proposed device will deposit ultrasound directly into the tissue.  Ultrasound energy on interaction with the surrounding volume is converted into heat.  Currently there are devices that work on similar principle, but with these devices ultrasound is transferred into the tissue from a source external to the tissue.  Majority of the existing devices use focused ultrasound beams that are directed towards abnormal tissue.  They raise the temperature of the abnormal tissue to a high value which leads to abnormal cells death.  There are difficulties in using the above procedure if the abnormal cells are behind or around boney structures, e.g., skull or behind organs filled with gases, e.g., lungs.  In case like that ultrasound must be deposited directly into the volume with abnormal cells.        We have already worked on a device capable of direct deposition of ultrasound.  We found, however, that the device was quite complicated and bulky.  That has been its serious limitation.  We noticed also that its use required very good understanding of its principle of operation and thus it worked only for very skillful operators.  For the device to be useful for therapy, it must be easy to operate by personnel with typical technical and/or scientific abilities.  We believe that the proposed instrumentation satisfies the above requirements. We think also that experience gained in development of the new device may be helpful to other researchers who work in biomedical ultrasound.