Treatment planning and aberration correction algorithms for high intensity focused ultrasound (hifu) ablation of soft tissue targets

Abstract

Treatment planning and aberration correction algorithms for high intensity focused ultrasound (Hifu) ablation of soft tissue targets, and associated systems and methods are described. In one embodiment, a method for planning a sonication treatment of a target in a body includes obtaining a 3D anatomical model of the target and a portion of the body that is disposed between an ultrasound transducer and the target, where the ultrasound transducer is a phased array ultrasound transducer comprising a plurality of elements. The method also includes: selecting a position of the ultrasound transducer by applying a transducer positioning algorithm for optimizing a sonication geometry; and simulating an aberrated ultrasound field at the target, where the aberrated ultrasound field is a linear high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) field. The method also includes compensating for phase aberrations of the aberrated ultrasound field by: backpropagating an ultrasound field from a virtual point source at the target, through the portion of the body that is disposed between the ultrasound transducer and the target, toward the ultrasound transducer, where the ultrasound field is spherical at the virtual point; and, based on backpropagating the ultrasound field from the virtual point, determining time delays at the elements of the ultrasound transducer, where the time delays are configured for compensating the phase aberrations of the ultrasound field at the virtual point source.