Design of HIFU treatment plans using an evolutionary strategy

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is an emerging technique for non-invasive cancer treatment where malignant tissue is destroyed by thermal ablation. Since one ablation only allows a small region of tissue to be destroyed, a series of ablations has to be conducted to treat larger volumes. To maximize the treatment outcome and prevent injuries such as skin burns, complex preoperative treatment planning is carried out to determine the focal position and sonication time for each ablation. Here, we present an evolutionary strategy to design HIFU treatment plans using a map of patient specific material properties and a realistic thermal model. The proposed strategy allows high-quality treatment plans to be designed, with the average volume of mistreated and under-treated tissue not exceeding 0.1 %.