Laser-enhanced thermal effects during focused ultrasound radiation on biological tissues

The thermal effects induced by a moderate intensity focused ultrasound and enhanced by combined laser pulses for bio-tissues and tissue-phantom are studied experimentally and theoretically. At first, the heating effects of bio-tissues and tissue-phantom induced by ultrasound and enhanced by laser are measured experimentally. The heating processes induced by attenuations of focused ultrasonic waves and cavitation effects of the focused ultrasound and combined laser are analyzed theoretically. By analyzing the mechanisms of these effects, it is found that the laser nucleation makes the cavitation bubble generation more easily, which can effectively enhance the ultrasonic cavitation effects, and then enhance the thermal effects of the samples. On the other hand, to evaluate quantitatively the heating processes induced by the focused ultrasound and enhanced by the pulsed laser, by fitting the theoretical calculations to the experimental results, the corresponding cavitation bubbles and rising temperatures induced by the focused ultrasound with and without laser can be estimated approximately.