Tissue Modeling
When planning a high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment, MR images are taken of the patient. The patient's unique anatomy must be taken into account in order to have the most effective treatment. In order to accomplish this, those 2D MRIs are converted into a 3D model through a process called segmentation.
Radiation Force Balance
Radiation Force Balance is a technique developed that characterizes the efficiency of focused ultrasound transducers and attenuation coefficients in samples. A proper assessment of these parameters plays a crucial role in the quality of simulation based treatment planning for Magnetic Resonance Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) used to treat tumors such as uterine fibroids.
The analysis of the thermal properties of animal and eventually human tissues to test our hypothesis that those are temperature-dependent properties with the goal of using this data to more accurately predict the heat transfer during an MRI-FUS treatment. A dual needle thermal sensor (TEMPOS Meter unit) is used to measure the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and volumetric heat capacity, while a Multi-Cell Differential Scanning Calorimeter is used to measure the specific heat capacity.
