The SonoKnife is a scan-able high intensity line-focused ultrasound device for thermal ablation (52 - 60°C) of
superficially located advanced tumors or nodal disease in the head and neck. Based on preliminary simulation results, a
prototype cylindrical section transducer operating at 3.5 MHz, with a 60 mm radius of curvature, an elevation of 30 mm
and an aperture of 60 mm, was constructed for laboratory testing. The three-dimensional distribution of the acoustic field
was measured in water and compared to preliminary numerical results. Ablation experiments were performed in gel
phantoms, in porcine liver ex vivo and in live piglets. The experimental results agreed well with the theoretical
simulations and showed that the SonoKnife transducer had a narrow acoustic edge and is able to ablate living biological
tissues at practical power levels.
The purpose is to develop a patient-specific treatment planning method for a cylindrically-focused (i.e.,
SonoKnife) ultrasound thermal therapy system to optimize the thermal treatment of locally-advanced head and neck
squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) and/or positive lymph nodes. To achieve a more efficient and effective treatment, a
temperature-based treatment planning was devised, which was composed of : (1) a 3D acoustic-thermal model has been
developed to simulate the acoustic field, temperature distribution, and thermal dose coverage induced by the SonoKnife
applicator. (2) A 3D relevant anatomical structures (e.g. the H&N tumors, bones and cavities) were reconstructed based
on multislice CT scans. A step-and-shoot strategy was devised to perform the treatment, in which the initial applied
power levels, placement of the transducers, and sonication times per scan were determined by conducting a temperature-based
forward simulation. The maximum temperature, thermal dose coverage of target, and thermal exposure to
surrounding tissue were analyzed. For performance evaluation, the treatment planning was applied on representative
examples obtained from the clinical radiation therapy of HNSCC and positive lymph nodes. This treatment planning
platforms can be used to guide applicator placement, set-up configurations, and applied power levels prior to delivery of
a treatment or for post-procedure analysis of temperature distributions.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.