In vivo ultrasound thermography in presence of temperature heterogeneity and natural motions.

Real-time ultrasound thermography has been recently demonstrated on commercially available diagnostic imaging probes. In vitro experimental results demonstrate high sensitivity to small, localized temperature changes induced by subtherapeutic focused ultrasound. Most of the published results, however, are based on a thermally induced echo strain model that assumes infinitesimal change in temperature between imaging frames.