Effect of HIFU-Induced Thermal Ablation in Numerical Breast Phantom

Abstract

Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, and treatment involved invasive surgery such as lumpectomy. In the last decade, a non-invasive, non-contact high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy was developed for treatment with promising results. However, its success rate depends on patient selection, tissue heterogeneities, HIFU operational parameters, and even imaging techniques. In this emerging field, computer simulations can provide us with a much-needed platform to learn, test, and deduce results virtually before conducting experiments. In this study, we used three different classes of anatomically realistic numerical breast phantoms from clinical contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, including scattered-, heterogeneous-, and extremely dense-type breasts. Upon assigning the appropriate acoustic and optical parameters to the tissues within, we simulated HIFU propagation by using the k-Wave toolbox in MATLAB and compared the changes introduced in the three types of breasts. It was found that scattered-type breast was best-suited for HIFU therapy. Furthermore, we simulated light-beam propagation with the ValoMC toolbox in MATLAB after introducing the lesion to compare the distribution of the initial pressure generated via the photoacoustic effect. This simulation study will be of significant clinical impact, especially in the study and management of HIFU-based treatments, which are individual/tissue-selective in nature.