Dynamic Skull Aberration Correction in Transcranial Ultrasound Therapy
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transcranial focused ultrasound therapy methods face challenges in achieving accurate and precise targeting through the skull due to its inhomogeneity, leading to distorted brain focus and requiring invasive implantations or static corrections that fail to account for thermally-induced changes in skull-induced aberrations.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that dynamically corrects skull-induced aberrations by intermittently recalculating corrections using ultrasound detection and skull thickness estimates from volumetric image data, updating aberration reductions during procedures to compensate for thermally-induced changes in skull speed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If static skull aberration correction is used based on pre-operative CT images, then non-invasive transcranial treatment is achieved, but thermally-induced changes in skull speed are not accounted for leading to distorted focus
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static pre-operative correction to dynamic intraoperative correction by continuously monitoring skull temperature and adjusting aberration corrections in real-time. This allows the system to adapt to thermally-induced changes in skull speed while maintaining non-invasive operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback control by measuring skull temperature during the procedure and using this information to update aberration corrections. The temperature measurements feed back into the correction algorithm, allowing the system to compensate for thermal effects on skull acoustics.
2Ease of operation
If focused ultrasound therapy is delivered through the skull, then deep brain targets can be treated non-invasively, but skull heating occurs reducing treatment feasibility
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary temperature monitoring and aberration correction updates before delivering full therapeutic ultrasound energy. By establishing baseline temperature measurements and initial corrections, the system prepares to compensate for heating effects before they significantly degrade treatment quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors skull temperature during therapy delivery and uses this feedback to adjust aberration corrections and potentially modify treatment parameters, preventing excessive skull heating while maintaining effective deep brain treatment.
3Ease of operation
If ultrasound energy is transmitted through the skull to treat deep brain targets, then non-invasive therapy is achieved, but skull inhomogeneity causes distorted focus
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically updates aberration corrections during the procedure based on real-time temperature measurements, allowing the focal spot to remain precise despite changes in skull acoustic properties caused by heating and inherent inhomogeneity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes correction parameters based on measured skull temperature and identified resonant frequencies. By adjusting phase and amplitude parameters according to thermal state, the system compensates for skull inhomogeneity and maintains focal precision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Improves the accuracy and efficiency of intracranial focused ultrasound therapy by reducing focal spot size and heating effects, increasing the feasibility of treatments deemed unfeasible due to skull heating.
Implementation Method 1
employing an ultrasound transducer of the array to transmit a non-therapeutic ultrasound pulse and receive a reflected ultrasound pulse associated with ultrasound energy reflected from skull surfaces
Implementation Method 2
determining a correction for correcting a therapeutic transmit signal... determined by processing the receive signal and employing a skull thickness estimate... to compensate for thermally-induced changes in the speed of sound
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 2
AI summary
Various example embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for the dynamic correction and reduction of thermal variations in skull-induced aberrations during a focused ultrasound therapy procedure. Unlike conventional approaches involving static corrections for skull-induced aberrations, various example embodiments of the present disclosure employ ultrasound detection and a skull thickness estimate from volumetric image data to intermittently and dynamically determine corrections for skull-induced aberrations, such that aberration correction reduction is updated intraoperatively and maintained despite local thermally-induced changes in the speed of sound of the local skull region due to intraoperative intracranial heating. Furthermore, in some example embodiments, a measure dependent on the speed of sound with the skull is intraoperatively determined and compared to a previously determined value of the measure to determine a change in the skull temperature, based on a pre-determined relationship between changes in the measure and changes in skull temperature.