A Reusable Thermochromic Phantom for Testing High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Technologies.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Physics
• Materials Science

Background:

• High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is a promising surgical technology for various diseases, including cancer.
• Ex-vivo tissues are commonly used for HIFU testing but are resource-intensive and unsustainable.
• Tissue-mimicking phantoms offer a reliable and sustainable alternative for HIFU research and development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a reusable, cost-effective, silicone-based thermochromic phantom for High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) applications.
• To evaluate the phantom's usability and performance in simulating HIFU treatments.
• To assess the correlation between temperature and simulated lesion size under various HIFU conditions.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a reusable silicone-based thermochromic phantom.
• Comprehensive acoustic, mechanical, and thermal characterization of the phantom.
• Evaluation of phantom usability on a HIFU robotic platform under 18 different sonication power and duration conditions.
• Quantification of temperature changes and simulated lesion dimensions.

Main Results:

• The silicone phantom demonstrated cost-effectiveness and rapid fabrication.
• A clear accordance was observed between temperature trends and lesion dimensions over time during HIFU exposure.
• The phantom successfully simulated lesion formation under varying HIFU parameters.

Conclusions:

• The proposed silicone-based thermochromic phantom is a valid and sustainable alternative to ex-vivo tissues for HIFU testing.
• This phantom is particularly useful for early-stage development of novel HIFU treatment paradigms.
• The phantom's performance supports its application in validating HIFU efficacy and safety.