Abstract
Purpose:Prostate brachytherapy is an effective treatment for early prostate cancer. The current prostate implant is limited to using 2D transrectal ultrassound (TRUS) or machenical motor driven 2D array either in the end or on the side. Real‐time 3D images can improve the accuracy of the guidance of prostate implant. The concept of our system is to allow realtime full visualization of the entire prostate with the multiple transverse scan.Methods:The prototype of 3D Multiple‐Transverse‐Plane Transrectal Ultrasound probe (MTP‐TRUS) has been designed by us and manufactured by Blatek inc. It has 7 convex linear arrays and each array has 96 elements. It is connected to cQuest Fire bird research system (Cephasonics inc.) which is a flexible and configurable ultrasound‐development platform. The size of cQuest Firebird system is compact and supports the real‐time wireless image transferring. A relay based mux board is designed for the cQuest Firebird system to be able to connect 672 elements.Results:The center frequency of probe is 6MHz±10%. The diameter of probe is 3cm and the length is 20cm. The element pitch is 0.205 mm. Array focus is 30mm and spacing 1.6cm. The beam data for each array was measured and met our expectation. The interface board of MTP‐TURS is made and able to connect to cQuest Firebird system. The image display interface is still under the development. Our real‐time needle tracking algorithm will be implemented too.Conclusion:Our MTP‐TRUS system for prostate implant will be able to acquire real‐time 3D images of prostate and do the real‐time needle segmentation and tracking. The system is compact and have wireless function.
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