Radiofrequency ablation is an interstitial focal ablative therapy that can be used in a percutaneous fashion and permits in situ destruction of hepatic tumors. Recurrence rates after rf therapy are as high as 34–55%, due to difficulties in accurately identifying the zone of necrosis (thermal lesion) because of the low intrinsic acoustic contrast between normal and ablated liver tissue. Our goal is to provide real-time ultrasonic tracking of temperature changes over the large range of temperatures traditionally used (40–100°C) in rf ablation procedures using an external ultrasound transducer. Temperature estimates are obtained using a cross-correlation algorithm applied to rf ultrasound echo signal data acquired at discrete intervals during heating. Apparent tissue displacement estimates obtained at these discrete time-intervals are accumulated to obtain a cumulative displacement map, whose gradient provides after appropriate scaling provides a temperature map at the specified elapsed ablation duration. Temperature maps are used to display the initial temperature rise and to continuously update a thermal map of the treated region. In this paper, we develop calibration curves that relate the echo shift due to the change in the speed of sound and thermal expansion to the corresponding temperature increase on in-vitro tissue specimens. These calibration curves can then be utilized for the real time calibration and analysis of temperature estimates obtained from the rf echo signals during ablation. Temperature maps obtained using the calibration curve compare favorably to temperature estimates observed using the invasive thermosensor readings on the ablation electrode and previous results that utilized a linear calibration factor.
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