Full Coverage 3D Temperature Mapping for Transcranial MRgHIFU Applications

Nick Todd¹, Henrik Odeen¹, Allison Payne¹, Laurent Marsac², Dorian Chauvet³, Mathieu Pernot⁴, Anne-Laure Boch³, Jean-Francois Aubry⁴, Mickael Tanter⁴, Dennis L. Parker¹

New techniques for focusing ultrasound through the skull have made non-invasive heating in the brain possible, paving the way to clinical applications such as tumor ablation and targeted drug delivery via blood-brain barrier opening. However, high bone absorption can lead to undesirable heating outside of the focus and severe consequences if not properly monitored. To realize 3D MR thermometry over the entire volume of interest, we have developed an approach that combines a modified 3-D segmented EPI sequence with data undersampling and a constrained reconstruction method to provide temperature maps with good spatial resolution, large volume coverage, and high temporal resolution.