Search

The reliable description of the ultrasonic fields of high-intensity therapeutic ultrasound (HITU) devices is a prerequisite concerning the safe application of the method in the daily clinical routine. Since ultrasonic sensors used for the characterization of diagnostic fields are at high risk of being damaged in the strong therapeutic fields, the measurements are carried out in burst mode to reduce the acting temporal-average intensities. For the thorough investigation of possible differences between the excitation in continuous wave (cw) and burst mode, the temporal-average total acoustic output powers of two types of HITU transducers with f-numbers of approximately 1 and with working frequencies between 1.1 MHz and 3.3 MHz were investigated by means of a radiation force balance. The maximum cw equivalent power level was 300 W; the duty cycles varied between 1% and 90%. In addition, the possible effect of the transducer–target distance was investigated. It was found that the different turn-on and turn-off behaviour of the transducers caused variations of the effective duty cycle, depending on the power level and the power amplifier used. The temporal-average power declined with increasing distance as expected, and no focal anomaly was detected.

The spatial and temporal distribution of the temperature elevation caused by high-intensity therapeutic ultrasound (HITU) in a tissue-mimicking material (TMM) has been determined with magnetic resonance (MR) thermometry, infrared (IR) thermometry and a thermal test object with an integrated thin-film thermocouple at three different National Metrological Institutes (PTB/Germany, NPL/UK, INRIM/Italy). Results obtained from the different types of measurement are compared and some general aspects of the methods are discussed, particularly with regard to their suitability for the in vitro characterization of transducers for treatment planning.

The CCAUV.U-K3 is the third key comparison in the ultrasound branch organised under the auspices of the Consultative Committee for Acoustics, Ultrasound and Vibration (CCAUV) of the BIPM. It is a follow-up to the first comparison CCAUV.U-K1, which dealt with power measurement in the frequency range 2 to 10.5 MHz and a power range between 10 mW and 15 W. This region is of particular importance for medical applications of ultrasound. Main text. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCAUV, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).