Experimental high-intensity focused ultrasound lesion formation in cardiac tissue

Abstract

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) (4.5–7.5 MHz) was used to form lesions in cardiac tissue, with an ultimate objective of treating conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and ventricular tachycardia. Ultrasound attenuation coefficients were experimentally determined in vitro for calf myocardial tissue, both muscle and pericardial fat. These coefficients were employed in computational models of linear beam propagation, tissue heating profiles and thermal lesion formation for a variety of focused transducers. Modeling was performed for continuous and pulsed exposures. These models suggested initial power levels and exposure durations for in vitro experiments on calf ventricles and septa and ex vivo experiments on canine whole hearts. Repeatability of lesion size and placement was studied as power and exposure parameters varied around the initial values. With these experimental results, power and exposure parameters were selected to create lesions in vivo in canine ventricles and septa in open-chest, anesthetized dogs. Pulsed exposures were synchronized to cardiac and respiration cycles to ensure accurate placement of the lesions. These initial in vivo experiments showed that HIFU treatments in the beating heart are feasible; they also identified refinements that are now being implemented for better control of lesion size and placement. [Work supported by NCI and NHLBI Grant 5R01 CA84588.]