Multi-gate time-of-flight technique for estimation of temperature distribution in heated tissue: Theory and computer simulation

摘要

An in vitro ultrasonic technique for real-time temperature distribution estimation in heated tissue is developed and tested. The technique is based on an iterative procedure that takes into account the influences of thermal expansion and heating-induced change in the speed of sound on the time of flight of echo signals scattered from the targeted tissue regions. The echoes are tracked using multiple time gates and a crosscorrelation approach. Computer simulations using a random discrete scatterer model and temperature distribution data from laser heating experiments show very good accuracy and speed in terms of computation.