Sound field prediction of ultrasonic lithotripsy in water with spheroidal beam equations

With converged shock wave, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy（ESWL） has become a preferable way to crush human calculi because of its advantages of efficiency and non-intrusion. Nonlinear spheroidal beam equations（SBE） are employed to illustrate the acoustic wave propagation for transducers with a wide aperture angle. To predict the acoustic field distribution precisely, boundary conditions are obtained for the SBE model of the monochromatic wave when the source is located on the focus of an ESWL transducer. Numerical results of the monochromatic wave propagation in water are analyzed and the influences of half-angle, fundamental frequency, and initial pressure are investigated. According to our results, with optimization of these factors, the pressure focal gain of ESWL can be enhanced and the effectiveness of treatment can be improved.

Study of the temperature rise induced by a focusing transducer with a wide aperture angle on biological tissue containing ribs

We used the spheroidal beam equation to calculate the sound field created by focusing a transducer with a wide aperture angle to obtain the heat deposition, and then we used the Pennes bioheat equation to calculate the temperature field in biological tissue with ribs and to ascertain the effects of rib parameters on the temperature field. The results show that the location and the gap width between the ribs have a great influence on the axial and radial temperature rise of multilayer biological tissue. With a decreasing gap width, the location of the maximum temperature rise moves forward; as the ribs are closer to the transducer surface, the sound energy that passes through the gap between the ribs at the focus decreases, the maximum temperature rise decreases, and the location of the maximum temperature rise moves forward with the ribs.

Temperature rise induced by an annular focused transducer with a wide aperture angle in multi-layer tissue

In order to improve the operability and accuracy of high-intensity focused ultrasound （HIFU）, an annular focused transducer, whereby a B-ultrasound probe is placed in its center, is used to realize the real time monitoring and control of the treatment. In this paper, the spheroidal beam equation （SBE） was used to calculate the sound lield by an annular focused transducer with a wide aperture angle to first derive the heat deposition and the Pennes equation was used to calculate the temperature field in multi-layer tissue. We studied the effect of different parameters on the temperature of the tissues. The result shows that the focal length has a significant influence on both maximum liver temperature rise and skin temperature rise, and both increase with the increase in the focal length. When the frequency increases, the temperature rise first undergoes a rapid increase before gradually reaching a maximum, and then finally decreasing. The temperature rise increases while the inner radius decreases or the sound pressure increases. By choosing suitable parameters, the proper temperature rise both on the target tissue and skin via an annular tbcused transducer with a wide aperture angle can be obtained.