Inducing occlusion effect in Y-shaped vessels using high-intensity focused ultrasound: finite element analysis and phantom validation

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) surgery offers a truly non-invasive treatment method with no skin incision, but precise targeting of tumour tissues for thermotherapy. Clinical experience reveals that the efficacy of tumour destruction not only involves in coagulating necrosis, but also involves in damaging the tumour vessels, which play an important role in tumour progression. These vessels take the elevated temperature away by perfusion, resulting in uncertainty of the occlusion effect during HIFU treatment. In this study, a Y-shaped vessel model comprising common and tumour vessels and an indirect fabrication method are proposed. The physical properties of the fabricated vessel phantom are measured and compared with human tissue. Simulation is performed using finite element modelling according to the tissue parameter, perfusion rate of the tumour vessel and treatment parameters including power intensity and exposure duration. The phantom experiments are carried out with perfusion of egg white to validate the threshold time prediction obtained from the simulation results. Our findings reveal that the threshold time obtained from experiments is consistent with the simulated one.