Effect of pulse parameters on ablation efficiency in dual-frequency HIFU therapy

Abstract

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has now been widely used to ablate various benign and malignant tumors. But it is still critical to increase the ablation efficiency in many clinical applications. Dual-frequency HIFU has been proven to be more efficient in ablation, but the principle on selecting the pulse parameters in this method remains to be explored. In this study, the in vitro lesion areas under different pulse repetition frequencies (PRFs), duty ratios, and frequency differences were compared, cavitation activity was also monitored during HIFU exposure. The results showed that different pulse parameters caused different types of lesions. In HIFU therapy, those pulse parameters that maximize the thermal effect, reduce heat dissipation and generate sufficient cavitation activities should be considered. But the method of evaluating or predicting the damage by using the cavitation dose is only applicable to mechanical damage.