Simultaneous Ultrasound Therapy and Monitoring of Microbubble-Seeded Acoustic Cavitation Using a Single-Element Transducer

Martindale C, Heymans S, Suler A, Antonios P, Dickinson R, Choi J (2017)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2017

Journal

IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Book Volume: 64

Pages Range: 1234 - 1244

Journal Issue: 8

DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2017.2718513

Abstract

Ultrasound-driven microbubble (MB) activity is used in therapeutic applications such as blood clot dissolution and targeted drug delivery. The safety and performance of these technologies are linked to the type and distribution of MB activities produced within the targeted area, but controlling and monitoring these activities in vivo and in real time has proven to be difficult. As therapeutic pulses are often milliseconds long, MB monitoring currently requires a separate transducer used in a passive reception mode. Here, we present a simple, inexpensive, integrated setup, in which a focused single-element transducer can perform ultrasound therapy and monitoring simultaneously. MBs were made to flow through a vessel-mimicking tube, placed within the transducer’s focus, and were sonicated with therapeutic pulses (peak rarefactional pressure: 75–827 kPa, pulse lengths: 200 μs and 20 ms). The MB-seeded acoustic emissions were captured using the same transducer. The received signals were separated from the therapeutic signal with a hybrid coupler and a high-pass filter. We discriminated the MB-generated cavitation signal from the primary acoustic field and characterized MB behavior in real time. The simplicity and versatility of our circuit could make existing single-element therapeutic transducers also act as cavitation detectors, allowing the production of compact therapeutic systems with real time monitoring capabilities.

Authors with CRIS profile

Christine Martindale Lehrstuhl für Informatik 14 (Machine Learning and Data Analytics)

Additional Organisation(s)

Machine Learning and Data Analytics Lab

How to cite

APA:

Martindale, C., Heymans, S., Suler, A., Antonios, P., Dickinson, R., & Choi, J. (2017). Simultaneous Ultrasound Therapy and Monitoring of Microbubble-Seeded Acoustic Cavitation Using a Single-Element Transducer. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control, 64(8), 1234 - 1244. https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2017.2718513

MLA:

Martindale, Christine, et al. "Simultaneous Ultrasound Therapy and Monitoring of Microbubble-Seeded Acoustic Cavitation Using a Single-Element Transducer." IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control 64.8 (2017): 1234 - 1244.

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