Method for determining phase advancement of transducer elements in high intensity focused ultrasound

摘要

Phase of each transducer element of a high intensity focused (HIFU) transducer array is controlled to compensate for phase change introduced by varying velocity through differing tissue along a path towards a treatment volume. The echo of a specific harmonic of ultrasound pulses of moderate intensity and less than HIFU intensity are used to measure the propagation path transit time of each HIFU transducer element that will converge in a treatment volume through nonhomogeneous tissue. The moderate intensity is outside the linear region between molecular velocity fluctuations and pressure fluctuations. Thus, specific harmonic echoes are distributed in all directions from the treatment volume. Temporal delay in the specific harmonic echoes provide a measure of the propagation path transit time to transmit a pulse that will converge on the treatment volume.