Method and system for calculating a point estimate of an ultrasound dose

A system for providing a point estimate of an ultrasound dose at a region of interest in a subject comprising:

• an ultrasound source;
• an image processor module for processing images to identify different components of the region of interest;
• a computer processor;
• a database module comprising medium property values associated with a plurality of categories for components within the region of interest;
• a data storage module comprising computer readable instruction that when executed on the processor perform the tasks of:
• retrieving an image of the region of interest, wherein the region of interest comprises a target treatment area and a surrounding region of the target treatment area;
• processing the image to identify different components of the region of interest;
• segmenting and categorizing the different components into predetermined media categories;
• retrieving a medium property value associated with each media category, comprising;
• estimating a category-specific ultrasound coupling bubble element correction to the medium property value resulting from the presence of at least one ultrasound coupling bubble element in at least one component;
• and
• adjusting the medium property value of the at least one component to account for the respective category-specific ultrasound coupling bubble element correction;
• and
• attributing said medium property value to each respective component of the segmented region of interest;
• and
• delineating an ultrasound propagation path from the ultrasound source to the target treatment region;
• compiling the medium property values for each component over the propagation path to calculate an ultrasound propagation correction factor unique to the ultrasound propagation path through the region of interest;
• calculating the point estimate of the ultrasound dose at the region of interest based on the unique propagation correction factor;
• and
• adjusting the ultrasound source according to the calculated point estimate of the ultrasound dose if outside of a predetermined ultrasound dose range.