Thermochromic phantom for therapeutic ultrasound daily quality assurance

Abstract

Errors in power output ranging from −100% to +210% have been reported in a multitude of physiotherapy transducers.[1] Differences in power output can arise even after careful calibration on an annual or bi-annual schedule, which can either result in harm to the patient or non-effective treatment. Therefore, easy implementation of daily quality assurance is of great importance. We propose a simple, easy to use DQA phantom which allows the user to assess the power output of the focused ultrasound transducer, and determine if it has changed significantly after calibration. The basis of this phantom is the use of a highly attenuating ultrasound absorber with a surface layer of thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC). The use of thermochromic materials as a technique for use in ultrasound phantoms has been an ongoing area of interest. Many of these techniques require complicated set-ups, with large water tanks and imaging systems to produce very accurate data.[2,3] Simpler phantoms have been developed for use in benchtop settings, but still with a large emphasis on complicated image analysis.[4] Our proposed phantom will be a product where the end-user can visually assess the size of the lesion formed as a function of power output, without resorting to complicated image analysis.