A computational tool for evaluating HIFU safety.

BACKGROUND: High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is a noninvasive treatment for therapeutic applications, in particular the treatment of either benign or malignant tumor lesions. HIFU treatment is based on the power of a focused ultrasound beam to locally heat biological tissues over a necrotic level with minimal impact on the surrounding tissues. Therapies based on HIFU are becoming widely spread in the panorama of options offered by the Health Care System. Consequently, there is an ever increasing need to standardise quality assurance protocols and to develop computational tools to evaluate the output of clinical HIFU devices and ensuring safe delivery of HIFU treatment. AIMS: Goal of this study is the development of a computational tool for HIFU ablation therapy to assure safety of the patient and effectiveness of the treatment. RESULTS: The simulated results provide information about the behaviour of the focalized ultrasound in their interaction with different biological tissues. CONCLUSIONS: Numerical simulation represents a useful approach to predict the heath deposition and, consequently, to assess the safety and effectiveness of HIFU devices.