Waveform diversity based ultrasound system for hyperthermia treatment of breast cancer

In this letter, we present a new waveform-diversity-based ultrasound hyperthermia technique for the treatment of breast cancer. Waveform diversity offers a new paradigm for beampattern design. By choosing a proper covariance matrix of the transmitted waveforms under the uniform elemental power constraint, the ultrasound system can provide a focal spot matched to the entire tumor region, and meanwhile, minimize the impact to the surrounding healthy breast tissues. As shown in our 2-D numerical simulations, this method has better acoustic power deposition than the existing methods, and can provide the necessary temperature gradients required for the effective hyperthermia treatment of breast cancer. Index Terms--Beampattern design, breast cancer, finite-difference time domain (FDTD), ultrasound hyperthermia, waveform diversity.