Publications by authors named "T Drakos"
Background: The mechanical properties of therapeutic ultrasound (US) have attracted scientific interest for thrombolysis enhancement in combination with thrombolytic agents and microbubbles (MBs). The aim of the study was to develop an model to observe how the effects of sonothrombolysis change in the case where a tissue-mimicking material (TMM) is placed in the path of the US beam before the clot.
Methods: Fully retracted blood clots were prepared and pulse sonicated for 1 h under various conditions.
Background: It has been demonstrated that agar-based gel phantoms can emulate the acoustic parameters of real tissues and are the most commonly used tissue-mimicking materials for high-intensity focused ultrasound applications. The following study presents ultrasonic attenuation measurements of agar-based phantoms with different concentrations of additives (percent of agar, silicon dioxide and evaporated milk) in an effort of matching the material's acoustic property as close as possible to human tissues.
Methods: Nine different agar-based phantoms with various amounts of agar, silicon dioxide, and evaporated milk were prepared.
Background: Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery is an incisionless energy-based thermal method that is used for ablating tumors in the veterinary clinic.
Aims And Objectives: In this article we describe a prototype of a veterinary system compatible with magnetic resonance imaging intended for small-to-medium-sized companion animals that was developed and tested in adult rabbits.
Methods: Real-time monitoring of the ablation during the experiment was possible with MR thermometry.
Background: Conventional motion algorithms utilized during High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) procedures usually sonicate successive tissue cells, thereby inducing excess deposition of thermal dose in the pre-focal region. Long delays (~60 s) are used to reduce the heating around the focal region. In the present study the experimental evaluation of six motion algorithms so as to examine the required delay and algorithm for which the pre-focal (near-field) and post-focal (far-field) heating can be reduced using thermal dose estimations is presented.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Robotic-assisted diagnostic and therapeutic modalities require a highly accurate performance to be certified for clinical application. In this paper, three simple methods for assessing the accuracy of motion of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) robotic systems are presented.
Methods: The accuracy of motion of a 4 degrees of freedom robotic system intended for preclinical use of MRgFUS was evaluated by calliper-based and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, as well as visually by performing multiple ablations on a plastic film.