Nonlinear solvers for high-intensity focused ultrasound with application to cancer treatment

Original Announcement

This workshop seeks to advance the state of the art in the field of numerical simulation and modelling of propagation and scattering of high-intensity nonlinear sound waves in complex anatomic media, with application to cancer treatment by means of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). The emphasis thus lies on prediction of HIFU fields in the human body, with a goal to develop effective treatment planning tools. HIFU is used clinically to destroy cancerous tumors and other soft tissue targets. The HIFU problem requires solution of the nonlinear acoustic wave equation in a domain that is hundreds of wavelengths in size, where the nonlinearity results in the generation of tens of harmonics as the wave propagates. The underlying medium is heterogeneous at various length scales, and the tissue absorption has a power law dependence that results in dispersion. Although the workshop will be focused on HIFU, it is envisioned that the numerical methods under study and development should also be applicable to modelling of nonlinear waves in the atmosphere, the ocean, and the earth.

The main topics for the workshop are:

• Identification of the present challenges for treatment planning in HIFU
• Demonstration of the capabilities of various numerical methodologies and physical models for HIFU
• Design of canonical benchmark problems.

Material from the workshop

The workshop schedule.

A report on the workshop activities.