title: Echo Decorrelation Imaging of Rabbit Liver and VX2 Tumor during In Vivo Ultrasound Ablation.
abstract: In open surgical procedures, image-ablate ultrasound arrays performed thermal ablation and imaging on rabbit liver lobes with implanted VX2 tumor. Treatments included unfocused (bulk ultrasound ablation, N = 10) and focused (high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation, N = 13) exposure conditions. Echo decorrelation and integrated backscatter images were formed from pulse-echo data recorded during rest periods after each therapy pulse. Echo decorrelation images were corrected for artifacts using decorrelation measured prior to ablation. Ablation prediction performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves. Results revealed significantly increased echo decorrelation and integrated backscatter in both ablated liver and ablated tumor relative to unablated tissue, with larger differences observed in liver than in tumor. For receiver operating characteristic curves computed from all ablation exposures, both echo decorrelation and integrated backscatter predicted liver and tumor ablation with statistically significant success, and echo decorrelation was significantly better as a predictor of liver ablation. These results indicate echo decorrelation imaging is a successful predictor of local thermal ablation in both normal liver and tumor tissue, with potential for real-time therapy monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Tyler R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Fosnight
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Fong Ming
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Hooi
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Alexander P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Swetha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Teckla G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Akinyi
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Jakob K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Killin
authors.affiliation: Guided Therapy Systems/Ardent Sound, Mesa, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Peter G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Barthe
authors.affiliation: Gift of Life Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Rudich
authors.affiliation: Surgery, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Syed A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Marepalli B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Electronic address: doug.mast@uc.edu.
authors.forename: T Douglas
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Mast
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D057086:High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D008114:Liver Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D011817:Rabbits; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Bulk ultrasound ablation; Echo decorrelation imaging; High-intensity focused ultrasound; Therapy monitoring; Thermal ablation