Thermal ablation is a clinical procedure that aims at destroying pathological tissue minimally invasively through temperature changes. Temperature monitoring during the treatment is instrumental to achieve a precise and successful ablation procedure: ensuring a complete target ablation while preserving as much healthy tissue as possible. Ultrasound (US) is a promising low cost and portable modality, that could provide real-time temperature monitoring. However, the validation of such a technique is challenging. It is usually done with thermometers. They provide temperature measurements with good temporal resolution but only at a few local points. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the gold standard in term of temperature monitoring nowadays. It could also be used for validation of other thermometry techniques with a more accurate spatial resolution, but it requires MR-compatible devices. In this paper, we propose to leverage the use of a novel bipolar radiofrequency (RF) ablation device that provides 10 different ablation shapes to validate an ultrasound-based temperature monitoring method. The monitoring method relies on an external ultrasound element integrated with the bipolar RF ablation probe. This element send through the ablated tissues ultrasound waves that carry time-of-flight information. The ultrasound waves are collected by a clinical diagnostic ultrasound probe and can be related to the changes in temperature due to the ablation since ultrasound propagation velocity in biological tissue changes as temperature increases. We use this ultrasound-based method to monitor temperature during RF ablation. First on simulation data and then on two ex-vivo porcine liver experiments. Those dataset are used to show that we can validate the proposed temperature reconstruction method using the novel conformal radiofrequency ablation device by generating different ablation shapes.
A new 3D breast computed tomography (CT) system is under development enabling imaging of microcalcifications in a fully uncompressed breast including posterior chest wall tissue. The system setup uses a steered electron beam impinging on small tungsten targets surrounding the breast to emit X-rays. A realization of the corresponding detector concept is presented in this work and it is modeled through Monte Carlo simulations in order to quantify first characteristics of transmission and secondary photons. The modeled system comprises a vertical alignment of linear detectors hold by a case that also hosts the breast. Detectors are separated by gaps to allow the passage of X-rays towards the breast volume. The detectors located directly on the opposite side of the gaps detect incident X-rays. Mechanically moving parts in an imaging system increase the duration of image acquisition and thus can cause motion artifacts. So, a major advantage of the presented system design is the combination of the fixed detectors and the fast steering electron beam which enable a greatly reduced scan time. Thereby potential motion artifacts are reduced so that the visualization of small structures such as microcalcifications is improved. The result of the simulation of a single projection shows high attenuation by parts of the detector electronics causing low count levels at the opposing detectors which would require a flat field correction, but it also shows a secondary to transmission ratio of all counted X-rays of less than 1 percent. Additionally, a single slice with details of various sizes was reconstructed using filtered backprojection. The smallest detail which was still visible in the reconstructed image has a size of 0.2mm.
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