Intercostal high intensity focused ultrasound for liver ablation: The influence of beam shaping on sonication efficacy and near‐field risks

Abstract

Intercostal sonication is associated with an increased risk of near-field overheating. This risk is strongly dependent on the considered rib spacing, the placement of the focus behind the ribs, and the selected sonication trajectory. For the hardware under simulation, obstruction by the thoracic cage renders ablations of clinically relevant volumes within a practical time-frame unfeasible in a large part of the liver. Improvements maybe expected from transducer designs with a larger active surface and/or nonlinear sonication strategies.