COMPUTER-MODEL OF ULTRASONIC HYPERTHERMIA AND ABLATION FOR OCULAR TUMORS USING B-MODE DATA

Computer simulations have been conducted to examine hyperthermia and ablation for treating ocular tumors. An interactive software package has been implemented that permits relevant tissue dimensions to be determined from B-mode data. This package also permits interactive beam positioning, and it provides image displays depicting computed absorbed doses and temperature rises. Results are presented showing how hyperthermia temperature patterns are influenced by beam position, beam geometry and frequency. Images showing ablative temperature rises at various time intervals are also presented. For hyperthermia, geometric models of beam profiles showed that a non-uniform beam pattern (with a central low-intensity region) can produce more uniform heating of small ocular tumors than a beam with a uniform intensity profile. For a given tumor, the uniformity of hyperthermia temperatures was found to be a function of frequency, with 4.75 MHz providing reasonably uniform results for typical tumor heights (near 7 mm). For ablation, diffraction computations were employed to calculate beam intensity profiles; results show an initially rapid rise in temperature levels with subsequent, slower heating beyond the -3-dB limits of the focal volume. The model is now being refined, and additional phenomena, including nonlinear propagation, will be incorporated.