A Computer Simulation of Ultrasound Thermal Bio-effect in Embryonic Models

Abstract. At the present time, the usage of ultrasound diagnostic equipment has become an inseparable part of diagnosis for a number of medical investigations. Several scientific studies published in the last years showed that when applying a diagnostic ultrasound system on animals it is possible to create negative changes in tissues. New ultrasound technologies and higher output acoustic powers have brought a possible risk connected to the usage of ultrasound in diagnostics. The knowledge of risk level and exploration of limiting factors is an important point for the assessment of marginal ultrasound exposure values of medical investigation during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester. The contribution presents a MATLAB® application for modeling of tissue heating in human em-bryos at the developmental age of seven and eight weeks. Recent calculations of US fields, which are generated by several types of various unfocused single transducers (rectangular, circular, and annular), represent maximum temperature elevation of 0.4 °C in embryonic model tissues for the exposure of 1 min. The models of embryonic tissue heating provide comparative studies of possible bio-effect with the purpose to explore limiting factors of ultrasound exposure