# US 10,765,892 B1 · Systems and methods for optimizing transcranial ultrasound focusing

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- Number: US 10,765,892 B1
- Document ID: US10765892B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 15/613,940
- Filed: 2017-06-05
- Granted: 2020-09-08
- Earliest claimed: 2017-06-05
- Assignees: Insightec, Ltd.
- Applicants: Shuki Vitek; Yoav Levy
- Inventors: Shuki Vitek; Yoav Levy
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10765892B1

## CPC

- A61N 7/00: Ultrasound therapy (lithotripsy A61B17/22, A61B17/225; massage using supersonic vibration A61H23/00 {; using ultrasound for introducing media into the body A61M37/0092})
- A61B 34/10: Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
- A61B 2034/105: {Modelling of the patient, e.g. for ligaments or bones}
- A61B 2034/107: {Visualisation of planned trajectories or target regions}
- A61B 2090/3762: {using computed tomography systems [CT]}
- A61N 2007/0021: {Neural system treatment}
- A61N 2007/0078: {with multiple treatment transducers}
- A61N: ELECTROTHERAPY; MAGNETOTHERAPY; RADIATION THERAPY; ULTRASOUND THERAPY (measurement of bioelectric currents A61B; surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body A61B18/00; anaesthetic apparatus in general A61M; incandescent lamps H01K; infrared radiators for heating H05B)
- A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D)

## Abstract

Systems and methods for predicting a phase correction of ultrasound waves transmitted from one or more transducer elements and traversing a patient's skull into a target region utilizing data of the patient's skull include predicting a first beam path of the ultrasound waves traversing the skull based at least in part on the target location; computationally determining structural characteristics of the skull along the first beam path based on the acquired imaging data; and predicting a second beam path of the ultrasound waves traversing the skull based at least in part on the determined structural characteristics, thereby accounting for refraction resulting from the skull.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of transmitting ultrasound waves from at least one transducer element and traversing a patient's skull into a target region utilizing data of the patient's skull, the method comprising:
(a) predicting a first beam path of the ultrasound waves traversing the skull into the target region based at least in part on a location of the target region;
(b) computationally determining structural characteristics of the skull along the first beam path based on the skull data;
(c) predicting a second beam path of the ultrasound waves traversing the skull based at least in part on the determined structural characteristics;
(d) updating the second beam path of the ultrasound waves based at least in part on at least one of a deviation between the second beam path and the location of the target region or the second beam path; and
(e) activating the at least one transducer element in accordance with a treatment protocol.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first beam path is a straight line connecting the at least one transducer element to the target region.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the skull data is CT imaging data and the structural characteristics are represented by a CT value extracted from the CT imaging data.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a relationship between the structural characteristics of a plurality of skull regions and speeds of ultrasound waves traversing the plurality of skull regions.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a first speed of ultrasound waves traversing the skull.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein the first speed of ultrasound waves is determined based on the relationship and the structural characteristics determined in step (b).

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, further comprising determining a second speed of ultrasound waves traversing brain tissue.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, further comprising determining a third speed of ultrasound waves traversing a medium located between the at least one transducer element and the skull.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the third speed of ultrasound waves is determined based at least in part on a temperature of the medium.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the second beam path is predicted based at least in part on the first, second and third speeds of ultrasound waves.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the deviation determination step comprises computing a shortest distance between the second beam path and the location of the target.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
computing an angle between a first line connecting the at least one transducer element to the location of the target region and a second line connecting the at least one transducer element to a point on the second beam path; and
updating the second beam path of the ultrasound waves based on the computed angle.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the point has a shortest distance to the location of the target region on the second beam path.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the treatment protocol comprises at least one of an amplitude or a phase shift associated with the at least one transducer element.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound waves are transmitted from a plurality of transducer elements and the second beam path of the ultrasound waves is adjusted by altering relative phases of the ultrasound waves emitted from the plurality of transducer elements.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound waves are transmitted from a plurality of transducer elements, the method further comprising computing at least one of amplitudes or phase shifts associated with the plurality of transducer elements so as to generate a focus at the target region.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the skull comprises a plurality of layers and step (b) comprises computationally determining structural characteristics of the plurality of layers of the skull based on the skull data, and step (c) comprises predicting the second beam path of the ultrasound waves based at least in part on the determined structural characteristics of the plurality of the skull layers.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein soft tissue located between the at least one element and the skull is modeled as one of the plurality of the skull layers.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising activating the at least one transducer element based at least in part on the determined second beam path.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising computationally updating the structural characteristics of the skull based at least in part on the second beam path prior to performing step (d).

### Claim 21 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising activating a plurality of transducer elements in accordance with the treatment protocol so as to generate a focus at the target region.

### Claim 22 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to performing step (e):
(f) computationally determining a second deviation between the updated second beam path and the location of the target region;
(g) determining whether the second deviation is above a predetermined threshold; and,
if so, (h) updating the updated second beam path of the ultrasound waves based at least in part on the second deviation,
wherein steps (f)-(h) are iteratively performed until a stopping condition is satisfied.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, wherein the stopping condition consists of one or more of:
the second deviation below the predetermined threshold,
a number of iterations exceeding a predetermined limit, or
a change in the second deviation between two iterations is below a predetermined minimum.

### Claim 24

A system for transmitting ultrasound waves traversing a patient's skull into a target region, the system comprising:
an ultrasound transducer comprising at least one transducer element for transmitting the ultrasound waves; and
a controller, operably coupled to the ultrasound transducer, configured to:
(a) acquire data of the patient's skull;
(b) predict a first beam path of the ultrasound waves traversing the skull into the target region based at least in part on a location of the target region;
(c) computationally determine structural characteristics of the skull along the first beam path based on the skull data;
(d) predict a second beam path of the ultrasound waves traversing the skull based at least in part on the determined structural characteristics;
(e) update the second beam path of the ultrasound based at least in part on at least one of a deviation between the second beam path and the location of the target region or the second beam path; and
(f) activate the at least one transducer element in accordance with a treatment protocol.

### Claim 25 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the controller is configured to predict the first beam path using a straight line connecting the at least one transducer element to the target region.

### Claim 26 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, further comprising an imaging system comprising a computer tomography device for acquiring the skull data, the structural characteristics being represented by a CT value extracted from the imaging data acquired using the computer tomography device.

### Claim 27 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the controller is further configured to establish a relationship between the structural characteristics of a plurality of skull regions and speeds of ultrasound waves traversing the plurality of skull regions.

### Claim 28 (depends on 27)

The system of claim 27, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a first speed of ultrasound waves traversing the skull.

### Claim 29 (depends on 28)

The system of claim 28, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the first speed of ultrasound waves based on the relationship and the structural characteristics determined in step (c).

### Claim 30 (depends on 28)

The system of claim 28, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a second speed of ultrasound waves traversing brain tissue inside the skull.

### Claim 31 (depends on 30)

The system of claim 30, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a third speed of ultrasound waves traversing a medium located between the at least one transducer element and the skull.

### Claim 32 (depends on 31)

The system of claim 31, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the third speed of ultrasound waves based at least in part on a temperature of the medium.

### Claim 33 (depends on 31)

The system of claim 31, wherein the controller is further configured to predict the second beam path based at least in part on the first, second and third speeds of ultrasound waves.

### Claim 34 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the controller is further configured to compute a shortest distance between the second beam path and the location of the target so as to determine the deviation.

### Claim 35 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the controller is further configured to:
compute an angle between a first line connecting the at least one transducer element to the location of the target region and a second line connecting the at least one transducer element to a point on the second beam path; and
update the second beam path of the ultrasound waves based on the computed angle.

### Claim 36 (depends on 35)

The system of claim 35, wherein the point has a shortest distance to the location of the target region on the second beam path.

### Claim 37 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the treatment protocol comprises at least one of an amplitude or a phase shift associated with the at least one transducer element.

### Claim 38 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the ultrasound transducer comprises a plurality of transducer elements and the controller is further configured to update the second beam path of the ultrasound waves by altering relative phases of the ultrasound waves emitted from the plurality of transducer elements.

### Claim 39 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the ultrasound transducer comprises a plurality of transducer elements and the controller is further configured to compute at least one of amplitudes or phase shifts associated with the plurality of transducer elements so as to generate a focus at the target region.

### Claim 40 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the skull comprises a plurality of layers and the controller is further configured to:
computationally determine structural characteristics of the plurality of layers of the skull based on the skull data in step (c); and
predict the second beam path of the ultrasound waves based at least in part on the determined structural characteristics of the plurality of the skull layers in step (d).

### Claim 41 (depends on 40)

The system of claim 40, wherein the controller is further configured to model soft tissue located between the at least one element and the skull as one of the plurality of the skull layers.

### Claim 42 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the controller is further configured to activate the at least one transducer element based at least in part on the determined second beam path.

### Claim 43 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the controller, prior to performing step (e), is further configured to computationally update the structural characteristics of the skull based at least in part on the second beam path.

### Claim 44 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the controller is further configured to activate a plurality of transducer elements in accordance with the treatment protocol so as to generate a focus at the target region.

### Claim 45 (depends on 24)

The system of claim 24, wherein the controller, prior to performing step (f), is further configured to:
(g) computationally determine a second deviation between the updated second beam path and the location of the target region;
(h) determine whether the second deviation is above a predetermined threshold; and,
(i) if so, update the updated second beam path of the ultrasound waves based at least in part on the second deviation;
wherein the controller is configured to perform steps (g)-(i) iteratively until a stopping condition is satisfied.

### Claim 46 (depends on 45)

The system of claim 45, wherein the stopping condition consists of one or more of:
the second deviation below the predetermined threshold,
a number of iterations exceeding a predetermined limit, or
a change in the second deviation between two iterations is below a predetermined minimum.