Control of the necrosed tissue volume during noninvasive ultrasound surgery using a 16-element phased array

Focused high-power ultrasound beams are well suited for noninvasive local destruction of deep target volumes. In order to avoid cavitation and to utilize only thermal tissue damage, high frequencies (1-5 MHz) are used in ultrasonic surgery. However, the focal spots generated by sharply focused transducers become so small that only small tumors can be treated in a reasonable time. Phased array ultrasound transducers can be employed to electronically scan a focal spot or to produce multiple foci in the desired region to increase the treated volume. In this article, theoretical and experimental studies of spherically curved square-element phased arrays for use in ultrasonic surgery were performed. The simulation results were compared with experimental results from a 16-element array. It was shown that the phased array could control the necrosed tissue volume by using closely spaced multiple foci. The phased array can also be used to enlarge a necrosed tissue volume in only one direction at a time, i.e., lateral or longitudinal. The spherically curved 16 square-element phased array can produce useful results by varying the phase and amplitude setting. Four focal points can be easily generated with a distance of two or four wavelengths between the two closest peaks. The maximum necrosed tissue volume generated by the array can be up to sixteen times the volume induced by a similar spherical transducer. Therefore the treatment time could be reduced compared with single transducer treatment.