Effects of phase aberration on transabdominal focusing for a large aperture, low f-number histotripsy transducer

Abstract

Abstract Objective. Soft tissue phase aberration may be particularly severe for histotripsy due to large aperture and low f-number transducer geometries. This study investigated how phase aberration from human abdominal tissue affects focusing of a large, strongly curved histotripsy transducer. Approach. A computational model (k-Wave) was experimentally validated with ex vivo porcine abdominal tissue and used to simulate focusing a histotripsy transducer (radius: 14.2 cm, f-number: 0.62, central frequency f c: 750 kHz) through the human abdomen. Abdominal computed tomography images from 10 human subjects were segmented to create three-dimensional acoustic property maps. Simulations were performed focusing at 3 target locations in the liver of each subject with ideal phase correction, without phase correction, and after separately matching the sound speed of water and fat to non-fat soft tissue. Main results. Experimental validation in porcine abdominal tissue showed that simulated and measured arrival time differences agreed well (average error, ∼0.10 acoustic cycles at f c). In simulations with human tissue, aberration created arrival time differences of 0.65 μs (∼0.5 cycles) at the target and shifted the focus from the target by 6.8 mm (6.4 mm pre-focally along depth direction), on average. Ideal phase correction increased maximum pressure amplitude by 95%, on average. Matching the sound speed of water and fat to non-fat soft tissue decreased the average pre-focal shift by 3.6 and 0.5 mm and increased pressure amplitude by 2% and 69%, respectively. Significance. Soft tissue phase aberration of large aperture, low f-number histotripsy transducers is substantial despite low therapeutic frequencies. Phase correction could potentially recover substantial pressure amplitude for transabdominal histotripsy. Additionally, different heterogeneity sources distinctly affect focusing quality. The water path strongly affects the focal shift, while irregular tissue boundaries (e.g. fat) dominate pressure loss.