Real-Time Monitoring of Lesion Changes Using US-guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound System

Uterine fibroids are benign tumors that commonly occur in women of childbearing potential, and recently, non-invasive treatment using high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is being actively applied. While ultrasound-guided HIFU (USgHIFU) is particularly gaining attention as a real-time image-based treatment, the technologies for quantitatively predicting and monitoring tissue changes during the course of treatment remain limited. In this study, we propose the Echo Change Analysis Tracker (ECAT) technique and validate its efficacy through ex vivo experiments. Based on the non-interference technique that eliminates interference from HIFU signals during HIFU Tx and the reference-based deviation dose (RBDD), ECAT accumulates and analyzes tissue changes caused by thermal responses, and provides a visual representation of the tissue's degeneration through the degeneration prediction model (DPM). Lastly, it provides a degeneration prediction score (DPS) to assist the clinician's decision-making. This study quantitatively evaluated the relationship between the extent of degeneration and the predicted scores by varying HIFU treatment parameters, and future clinical trials are planned to further enhance the reliability and quantitativeness of the monitoring technology.