Towards multi-criteria optimization of transducer configurations

Background/introduction One of the key challenges of using Focused Ultrasound for killing cancerous cells in the liver or pancreas is to fully destroy the tumor while at the same time widely sparing healthy tissue such as the ribs, colon, stomach, nerves, etc. This requires optimizing transducer parameters such as phase values and pressure amplitude for each single transducer elements to deliver the required energy to the target area in a feasible manner. In particular, it has to be ensured that heating of risk structures like ribs, nerves, gall bladder, intestine etc. is not too high while still delivering enough power to the focal spot. These requirements finally lead to a constrained multi-criteria optimization problem.