Finite Element Analysis of Pressure Distribution by Ultrasound in Human Thigh Model

대퇴부 모델에서의 초음파 압력분포에 관한 유한요소 해석

Quantitative analysis for distribution of penetrating ultrasound in vivo is very important to determine the treatment region and method. In this paper, we constructed a simplified 2-D femoral region model that consists of skin-fat-muscle-bone layered system, and simulated the pressure distribution in the model in case of applying ultrasound using Finite Element Method(FEM). The ultrasound used in the simulation was assumed to be pulse wave and the pressure distribution was analyzed during only one period of pulse wave. In order to find the penetration depth, amplitude of pressure and sphere that ultrasound reaches in the model, we performed the simulation with varying the applied frequency, transducer size and amplitude of transducer's output. The result showed that applied frequency is inversely proportional to the penetration depth and amplitude of pressure but the amplitude of transducer's output is proportional to the amplitude of pressure in the model. Also, the sphere that ultrasound reaches was widened and the amplitude of pressure became larger as the transducer size became larger. This results were similar to that obtained from the previous model consisting of fat-muscle-bone layered system, but we observed that the pressure of ultrasound is decreased due to the decrements of pressure by the absorption coefficient of skin and the interference that depends on the reflection of ultrasound caused by the difference of acoustic impedance of skin and fat. Finally, we can infer that the model proposed in this study is closer to the realistic model than the previous ones. It shows that the results obtained from this study can be useful in designing the ultrasound treatment instrument or in setting up the treatment plan.