Referenceless PRF thermometry with multi-echo processing to monitor prostate ablation

Referenceless proton resonance frequency (PRF) shift thermometry provides a means to measure temperature changes during minimally invasive thermotherapy that is inherently robust to motion and tissue displacement. An extension to the referenceless method allows temperature estimation in the presence of phase discontinuities that occur at water/fat interfaces between prostate and periprostatic fat. Three images at different echo times are acquired and binary water and fat maps are generated from a Dixon reconstruction. For the background phase estimation, water and fat regions are treated separately and the phase offset between the two tissue types is determined. Here we present a new pulse sequence to acquire the necessary three images, which allows for temperature monitoring of the prostate with increased temporal resolution, optimal temperature resolution with respect to heating pattern of transurethral US applicators, and provides high resolution anatomical images. The method is demonstrated during in vivo thermal ablation of canine prostate.