Evaluation of a Three Hydrophones Method for 2-Dimensional Cavitation Localization

Area of Science:

• Medical physics
• Acoustics
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Cavitation is vital for ultrasound therapies (histotripsy, lithotripsy, drug delivery, hyperthermia).
• Inaccurate cavitation localization risks treatment failure and safety concerns.
• Current imaging-based localization methods are expensive and complex.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a cost-effective, versatile three-hydrophone method for localizing ultrasound cavitation sources.
• To assess the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed method for real-time tracking.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a three-hydrophone setup to measure time delays between cavitation signals.
• Employed cross-correlation analysis to determine signal arrival time differences.
• Calculated cavitation source position by minimizing a cost function or solving hyperbolic equations.

Main Results:

• The three-hydrophone method successfully localized cavitation clouds with accuracy comparable to the cloud size (2-4 mm).
• The system demonstrated capability in tracking source displacement.
• Numerical validation and experimental assessment confirmed the method's efficacy.

Conclusions:

• The proposed three-hydrophone method provides accurate, real-time localization of ultrasound cavitation.
• This approach is a light, versatile, and cost-effective alternative to current imaging techniques.
• The method shows promise for straightforward extension to three-dimensional localization in therapeutic ultrasound applications.