Analysis of the spatial and temporal accuracy of heating in the prostate gland using transurethral ultrasound therapy and active MR temperature feedback

A new MRI-guided therapy is being developed as a minimally invasive treatment for localized prostate cancer utilizing high-intensity ultrasound energy to generate a precise region of thermal coagulation within the prostate gland. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vivo the capability to produce a spatial heating pattern in the prostate that accurately matched the shape of a target region using transurethral ultrasound heating and active MR temperature feedback. Experiments were performed in a canine model (n = 9) in a 1.5 T MR imager using a prototype device comprising a single planar transducer operated under rotational control. The spatial temperature distribution, measured every 5 s with MR thermometry, was used to adjust the acoustic power and rotation rate in order to achieve a temperature of 55 0C along the outer boundary of the target region. The results demonstrated the capability to produce accurate spatial heating patterns within the prostate gland. An average temperature of 56.2 ± 0.6 0C was measured along the outer boundary of the target region across all experiments in this study. The average spatial error between the target boundary and the 55 0C isotherm was 0.8 ± 0.7 mm (-0.2 to 3.2 mm), and the overall treatment time was ≤20 min for all experiments. Excellent spatial agreement was observed between the temperature information acquired with MRI and the pattern of thermal damage measured on H and E-stained tissue sections. This study demonstrates the benefit of adaptive energy delivery using active MR temperature feedback, and an excellent capability to treat precise regions within the prostate gland with this technology.