4.6 Article

SURLAS: A new clinical grade ultrasound system for sequential or concomitant thermoradiotherapy of superficial tumors: Applicator description

Journal

MEDICAL PHYSICS
Volume 32, Issue 1, Pages 230-240

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1118/1.1835572

Keywords

3D power deposition control; electron beams; frequency blending; hyperthermia; hyperthermia applicator; hyperthermia system; photon beams; scanned ultrasound; simultaneous thermoradiotherapy; superficial tumors; ultrasonic heating

Funding

  1. NCI NIH HHS [R01 CA63121] Funding Source: Medline
  2. NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE [R01CA063121] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER

Ask authors/readers for more resources

A new ultrasound applicator with three-dimensional power distribution control was developed for simultaneous thermoradiotherapy. The system was named SURLAS for Scanning Ultrasound Reflector Linear Arrays System. In this paper, the hardware of the first clinical grade SURLAS applicator is described with emphasis on clinically important static acoustic characteristics and on construction aspects not reported before. Functionally, the SURLAS applicator consists of two parallel opposed ultrasound linear arrays aiming their acoustic beams to a V-shape scanning ultrasound reflector, which deflects the beams coming from opposite directions toward the treatment area. The reciprocating motion of the reflector in-between the arrays spreads the ultrasonic energy over the target area scanned. Control of power deposition over the 16 cm by 16 cm treatment window area is achieved by adjusting the power input into the transducer elements of the arrays as a function of the position of the scanning reflector. Furthermore, the arrays operate at significantly different frequencies (1.9 and 4.9 MHz) so that intensity modulation of beams of different frequencies can be exploited to adjust the depth of energy penetration. With this design, external electron or photon beams can be concurrently delivered with hyperthermia by irradiating through the applicator's body. Safety features were implemented into the applicator's design to monitor its performance during operation. A detailed description of the applicator including impedance matching circuits/filters, radiation force balance power measurements, hydrophone pressure field distribution measurements, as well as safety test results are reported. (C) 2005 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available