A holistic physics-informed neural network solution for precise destruction of breast tumors using focused ultrasound on a realistic breast model.

This study presented a novel approach for the precise ablation of breast tumors using focused ultrasound (FUS), leveraging a physics-informed neural network (PINN) integrated with a realistic breast model. FUS has shown significant promise in treating breast tumors by effectively targeting and ablating cancerous tissue. This technique employs concentrated ultrasonic waves to generate intense heat, effectively destroying cancerous tissue.

Model based deep learning method for focused ultrasound pathway scanning.

The primary purpose of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), a non-invasive medical therapy, is to precisely target and ablate tumors by focusing high-frequency ultrasound from an external power source. A series of ablations must be performed in order to treat a big volume of tumors, as a single ablation can only remove a small amount of tissue. To maximize therapeutic efficacy while minimizing adverse side effects such as skin burns, preoperative treatment planning is essential in determining the focal site and sonication duration for each ablation.

Artificial intelligence-assisted ultrasound-guided focused ultrasound therapy: a feasibility study.

Objectives: Focused ultrasound (FUS) therapy has emerged as a promising noninvasive solution for tumor ablation. Accurate monitoring and guidance of ultrasound energy is crucial for effective FUS treatment. Although ultrasound (US) imaging is a well-suited modality for FUS monitoring, US-guided FUS (USgFUS) faces challenges in achieving precise monitoring, leading to unpredictable ablation shapes and a lack of quantitative monitoring.

Image Generation and Recognition for Railway Surface Defect Detection.

Railway defects can result in substantial economic and human losses. Among all defects, surface defects are the most common and prominent type, and various optical-based non-destructive testing (NDT) methods have been employed to detect them. In NDT, reliable and accurate interpretation of test data is vital for effective defect detection.

Real-time monitoring of focused ultrasound therapy using intelligence-based thermography: A feasibility study.

Focused ultrasound (FUS) therapy has been widely studied for breast cancer treatment due to its potential as a fully non-invasive method to improve cosmetic and oncologic results. However, real-time imaging and monitoring of the therapeutic ultrasound delivered to the target area remain challenges for precision breast cancer therapy. The main objective of this study is to propose and evaluate a novel intelligence-based thermography (IT) method that can monitor and control FUS treatment using thermal imaging with the fusion of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced heat transfer modeling.

Design and analysis of an ultrasonic tactile sensor using electro-mechanical analogy.

This paper proposed a hybrid design approach of a vibro-concentrator, a vital component of an ultrasonic tactile sensor, by using electro-mechanical analogy. Lab experiments on soft materials with elastic modulus from 14 kPa to 150 kPa were conducted using the tactile sensor installed with the vibro-concentrator to verify the performance of the design. Various mechanical and electrical parameters, such as resonance frequency shift and equivalent conductance, were discussed, focusing on their feasibility as new stiffness indicators.

Magnetic nanoparticles-enhanced focused ultrasound heating: size effect, mechanism, and performance analysis.

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has attracted great interest as a new energy-based technique to treat disordered tissues, such as tumors, through a hyperthermal mechanism using ultrasonic waves. However, long treatment times and collateral damage to healthy tissues due to high acoustic powers are still challenges for the clinical application of HIFU. One possible strategy to enhance the deposition efficiency of HIFU at the tumor site is to employ magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) as ultrasound absorption agents for the thermal therapy.

Analytical and Numerical Model of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Enhanced With Nanoparticles.

Objective: High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a new noninvasive therapeutics that allows local treatment of solid tumors through a hyperthermal mechanism using ultrasonic energy. One promising strategy to increase the thermal efficiency of HIFU is to employ nanoparticles (NPs) as ultrasound agents for the hyperthermia procedure. However, the interaction mechanism between NPs and ultrasonic waves has not been well understood.

Enhancing Thermal Effect of Focused Ultrasound Therapy Using Gold Nanoparticles.

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has gained increasing attention as a noninvasive therapeutic method for wide range of biomedical applications from drug delivery to cancer treatment. However, high level of ultrasonic power required for efficient HIFU treatment can cause adverse effects such as damage to surrounding healthy tissues and skin burns. One of the strategies to improve the therapeutic mechanism of HIFU is to use ultrasound absorption agents during the treatment.

An experimental and numerical study on tactile neuroimaging: A novel minimally invasive technique for intraoperative brain imaging.

Background: The success of tumour neurosurgery is highly dependent on the ability to accurately localize the operative target, which may shift during the operation. Performing intraoperative brain imaging is crucial in minimally invasive neurosurgery to detect the effect of brain shift on the tumour's location, and to maximize the efficiency of tumour resection.

Method: The major objective of this research is to introduce tactile neuroimaging as a novel minimally invasive technique for intraoperative brain imaging.

Elastography for portable ultrasound.

Portable wireless ultrasound has been emerging as a new ultrasound device due to its unique advantages including small size, lightweight, wireless connectivity and affordability. Modern portable ultrasound devices can offer high quality sonogram images and even multiple ultrasound modes such as color Doppler, echocardiography, and endovaginal examination. However, none of them can provide elastography function yet due to the limitations in computational performance and data transfer speed of wireless communication.

Application of compressive sensing to portable ultrasound elastography.

Feasibility of applying compressive sensing (CS) to ultrasound radio-frequency (RF) data to produce elastography is investigated. The research also compares the performance of various CS frameworks associated with three common model bases (Fourier transform, discrete cosine transform (DCT), and wave atom (WA)) and two reconstruction algorithms (ℓ minimization and block sparse Bayesian learning (BSBL)) using the quality of B-mode images and elastograms from the RF data subsampled and reconstructed by each framework. Results suggest that CS reconstruction adopting BSBL algorithm with DCT model basis can yield the best results for all the measures tested, and the maximum data reduction rate for producing readily discernable elastograms is around 60%.

Compressed Sensing for Elastography in Portable Ultrasound.

Portable ultrasound is recently emerging as a new medical imaging modality featuring high portability, easy connectivity, and real-time on-site diagnostic ability. However, it does not yet provide ultrasound elastography function that enables the diagnosis of malignant lesions using elastic properties. This is mainly due to the limitations of hardware performance and wireless data transfer speed for processing the large amount of data for elastography.

The rheological injectability of N-succinyl-chitosan solutions.

The viscosity of a set of N-succinyl-chitosan (NSC) solutions was characterized near the 0.2Pas rheological injectability limit. This is believed to be the first such report in the open literature.

Application of Eshelby's Solution to Elastography for Diagnosis of Breast Cancer.

Eshelby's solution is the analytical method that can derive the elastic field within and around an ellipsoidal inclusion embedded in a matrix. Since breast tumor can be regarded as an elastic inclusion with different elastic properties from those of surrounding matrix when the deformation is small, we applied Eshelby's solution to predict the stress and strain fields in the breast containing a suspicious lesion. The results were used to investigate the effectiveness of strain ratio (SR) from elastography in representing modulus ratio (MR) that may be the meaningful indicator of the malignancy of the lesion.

Human corneal epithelial cell response to substrate stiffness.

It has been reported that mechanical stimulus can affect cellular behavior. While induced differentiation in stem cells and proliferation and directional migration in fibroblasts are reported as responses to mechanical stimuli, little is known about the response of cells from the cornea. In the present study, we investigated whether changes in substrate stiffness (measured by elastic modulus) affected the behavior of human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs).

Low-cost quasi-real-time elastography using B-mode ultrasound images.

A low cost, quasi real-time elastography system, displacement-gradient elastography (DGE), was developed by applying digital image correlation (DIC) method and smoothing algorithm to B-mode ultrasound images. In order to achieve quasi real-time elastogram display, a new fast pattern matching algorithm, decoupled cross-correlation (DCC), was proposed and validated. By applying the DGE to various phantoms, elastograms were generated to identify the lesion with wide variations of stiffness ratio and applied strain.

Investigation of microstructure, mechanical properties and cellular viability of poly(L-lactic acid) tissue engineering scaffolds prepared by different thermally induced phase separation protocols.

Two thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) methods have been used to fabricate biodegradable poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) tissue engineering scaffolds each with fibrous (F-TIPS) and porous (P-TIPS) microstructures. Three levels of PLLA concentration (3, 5 and 7 wt%) were employed in each fabrication method and both wet and dry specimens were studied. Simple compression testing revealed that an elastic-plastic representation of the mechanical behavior was possible for all specimens.

Application of digital image cross-correlation and smoothing function to the diagnosis of breast cancer.

Digital image correlation (DIC) algorithm was applied to 2D and 3D B-mode ultrasound (US) images to create 2D and 3D elastograms based on displacement-gradient. The roughness of elastograms caused by signal noises and sub-pixel errors could be greatly improved by employing the smoothing function based on the penalized least square regression method. Using the smoothed elastogram, the size and the relative modulus of the inclusion could be estimated with a reasonable accuracy.