Multi-functional sparse phased arrays for guiding focused ultrasound therapies

A multifunctional ultrasound system for body section registration and mapping of microbubble dynamics comprising:

• a first micromachined ultrasonic transducer array (MUTA) and one or more second MUTAs, the MUTAs comprising ultrasonic transducers having a membrane, wherein two or more of the ultrasonic transducers comprise different membrane geometries;
• and
• an image registration module configured to spatially register the high-resolution image with a reference image;
• wherein:
• (i) at least two of the MUTAs are disposed on a common substrate to adapt target frequency responses for at least one of:
• ultrasound imaging of the body section for image registration;
• ultrasound monitoring of microbubble activity;
• or
• generating ultrasound for treatment;
• (ii) at least one of:
• the target frequency response for ultrasound monitoring of microbubble activity is adapted to be complementary to at least a portion of the target frequency response for generating the ultrasound for treatment by using at least one of electronic filtering or DC biasing;
• each MUTA is configured to at least one of:
• monitor microbubble activity in a specific body section using image reconstruction;
• control microbubble activity during ultrasound treatment using image reconstruction;
• image a specific region of the body section for image registration;
• or
• image a specific region of the body section for treatment guidance;
• wherein the image reconstruction comprises at least one of plane wave spectrum combinations, delay and sum, phased array, synthetic aperture, or short spatial coherence;
• and
• (iii) at least one of:
• a target frequency response for capturing the image of the body section for image registration is in a range of 2 MHz to 15 MHz;
• a target frequency response for ultrasound monitoring of microbubble activity is in a range of 50 kHz to 5 MHz;
• a target frequency response for generating ultrasound for treatment is in a range of 50 kHz to 1 MHz;
• the different membrane geometries are characterized by lateral dimensions between 5 μm and 250 μm;
• the different membrane geometries are characterized by lateral dimensions between 250 μm and 1000 μm;
• the MUTAs are configured to detect activity of 1 to 1000 microbubbles during ultrasound treatment;
• the MUTAs are configured to capture the high-resolution image and monitor microbubble activity at a diffraction-limited spatial resolution;
• each MUTA is individually adaptable to monitor microbubble activity in a body section;
• or
• each MUTA is configured to individually generate an image of a portion of the body section.

A multifunctional ultrasound system for body section registration and mapping of microbubble dynamics comprising:

• a first micromachined ultrasonic transducer array (MUTA) and one or more second MUTAs, the MUTAs comprising ultrasonic transducers having a membrane;
• an image registration module configured to spatially register the high-resolution image with a reference image;
• and
• a control loop configured to maintain stable cavitation using an output signal of the MUTAs;
• wherein at least two of the MUTAs are disposed on a common substrate to adapt target frequency responses for at least one of:
• ultrasound imaging of the body section for image registration;
• ultrasound monitoring of microbubble activity;
• or
• generating ultrasound for treatment;
• and
• wherein at least one of:
• the target frequency response for ultrasound monitoring of microbubble activity is adapted to be complementary to at least a portion of the target frequency response for generating the ultrasound for treatment by using at least one of electronic filtering or DC biasing;
• two or more of the ultrasonic transducers comprise different membrane geometries;
• or
• each MUTA is configured to at least one of:
• monitor microbubble activity in a specific body section using image reconstruction;
• control microbubble activity during ultrasound treatment using image reconstruction;
• image a specific region of the body section for image registration;
• or
• image a specific region of the body section for treatment guidance;
• wherein the image reconstruction comprises at least one of plane wave spectrum combinations, delay and sum, phased array, synthetic aperture, or short spatial coherence.

A multifunctional ultrasound system for body section registration, mapping of microbubble dynamics, and ultrasound treatment, the system comprising:

• one or more micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays (MUTAs) comprising ultrasonic transducers, each MUTA configured to:
• capture a high-resolution image of at least a portion of a body section using ultrasound;
• monitor and control microbubble activity during ultrasound treatment;
• and
• generate focused ultrasound energy for treatment;
• an image registration module configured to spatially register the high-resolution image with a reference image;
• and
• electronics configured to control a DC bias voltage to cause at least of the one ultrasonic transducers to operate in a different mode from another of the one or more ultrasonic transducers, the modes selected from a group consisting of a non-collapsed mode, a collapsed mode, and a deep-collapsed mode.