Controllable in vivo hyperthermia effect induced by pulsed high intensity focused ultrasound with low duty cycles

Abstract

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)-induced hyperthermia is a promising tool for cancer therapy. Three-dimensional nonlinear acoustic-bioheat transfer-blood flow-coupling model simulations and in vivo thermocouple measurements were performed to study hyperthermia effects in rabbit auricular vein exposed to pulsed HIFU (pHIFU) at varied duty cycles (DCs). pHIFU-induced temperature elevations are shown to increase with increasing DC. A critical DC of 6.9 is estimated for temperature at distal vessel wall exceeding 44 °C, although different tissue depths and inclusions could affect the DC threshold. The results demonstrate clinic potentials of achieving controllable hyperthermia by adjusting pHIFU DCs, while minimizing perivascular thermal injury. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.