POSTER PRESENTATION Open Access Performance analysis of a dedicated breast MR-HIFU system during ablation of breast tumors in patients

We have recently conducted a clinical phase I study to assess the safety and spatial accuracy and precision of a newly developed dedicated MR-HIFU system for breast tumor ablation. In this system the breast is placed in a water filled cup, which is surrounded by an arc of ultra-sound transducers.[1] This lateral sonication approach significantly reduces the risks of heating tissues in the near field (i.e. skin) and in the far field (i.e. ribs, heart and lungs), which in turn allows the usage of higher powers and/or longer sonication durations in a larger treatment area. Here, we report on the performance of real-time MR thermometry and on the accuracy and precision of the dedicated system