Confocal dual-frequency enhances the damaging effect of high-intensity focused ultrasound in tissue-mimicking phantom.

The volume of the lesions created by conventional single-frequency high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is small, which leads to long treatment duration in patients who are undergoing tumor ablation. In this study, the lesions induced by confocal dual-frequency HIFU in an optically transparent tissue-mimicking phantom were investigated and compared with the lesions created by conventional single-frequency HIFU. The results show that using different exposure times resulted in lesions of different sizes in both dual-frequency and single-frequency HIFU modes at the same spatially averaged intensity level (ISAL = 4900 W cm(-2)), but the lesion dimensions made in dual-frequency mode were significantly larger than those made in single-frequency mode. Difference frequency acoustic fields that exist in the confocal region of dual-frequency HIFU may be the reason for the enlargement of the lesions' dimensions. The dual-frequency HIFU mode may represent a new technique to improve the ablation efficiency of HIFU. The total time for the ablation of a tumor can be reduced, thus requiring less therapy time and reducing possible patient complications.

Calibration of a focusing transducer and miniature hydrophone as well as acoustic power measurement based on free-field reciprocity in a spherically focused wave field.

The free-field transmitting voltage response at the pressure focus of a spherically focusing transducer was defined and calibrated based on the reciprocity theorem of a free-field spherically focused acoustic wave. The acoustic power, the radiation conductance, and the pressure at the pressure focus were derived and measured accordingly from the transmitting current response on the imaginary mirror symmetric spherical surface of the radiating surface. A miniature hydrophone was calibrated by the self-reciprocity of the spherically focusing source. Comparison results show that the measured acoustic power deviation between the reciprocity method and the radiation force balance method are within +/- 5% for two air-backed focusing transducers at 1.53 MHz and 5.27 MHz, respectively, and the maximum deviation of a hydrophone calibration between the new method and the free-field plane wave reciprocity method is within 1.4 dB in the frequency range from 1 MHz to 2 MHz in experiments.