Focussed ultrasound in combination with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a novel high-potential approach to non-invasive tumor therapy. Acoustic transport energy into the tissue (ablation), which causes the destruction of tumor cells. The lack of adequate tools for ultrasound simulation, plan computation and tissue tracking has prevented the full exploitation of the therapeutic potential so far. The development of such components is the aim of this project.

Main project goals:

• modelling and simulation of the interaction between focussed ultrasound and biological tissue
• software-assisted therapy planning based on numerical simulation and optimization methods
• software-guided treatment and MRI-based control with respiratory corretion and treatment plan adaptation

Our contributions:

• modelling of ultrasound therapy planning as a multicriteria optimization problem
• computation of best possible treatment plans and plan adaptation with numerical optimization methods
• structuring of the planning process by means of decision support methods