CN105536156A - Ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation and control method based on large scale area array element and apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an ultrasonic brain stimulation or control method and device based on a large-scale area array element, wherein the method includes: step 1, establishing a three-dimensional digital model of the head; step 2, setting the A virtual sound source, and use the virtual sound source to emit ultrasonic waves to the surroundings; step 3, perform sound field simulation based on the three-dimensional digital model of the head, and simulate the ultrasonic waves emitted by the virtual sound source after passing through the brain tissue, skull, and ultrasonic coupling device , the acoustic parameters when reaching the position of the array element, and simulate the voltage signal obtained by the ultrasonic transducer after piezoelectric conversion; step 4, according to the obtained acoustic parameters and voltage signal, time inversion is performed, and the corresponding The voltage of the voltage signal emits ultrasonic waves, realizes the focusing of ultrasonic waves through the skull at the virtual sound source in the brain, and performs ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation.

Description

A Method and Device for Ultrasonic Brain Stimulation or Regulation Based on Large-Scale Area Array Elements

technical field

The invention belongs to the medical field, in particular to an ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation method and device based on a large-scale area array element.

Background technique

Functional brain diseases (Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, depression, etc.) have become a major global medical problem and a heavy social burden. At present, the exact mechanism of functional brain diseases is still unclear, and the lack of effective treatment measures remains a major medical challenge facing the world. More than 100 years after German scientists reported in 1870 that electrical stimulation of the canine's cerebral cortex could trigger specific physical responses, the combination of technologies such as electricity, magnetism, and light with neuroscience produced deep brain stimulation, magnetic stimulation, and optogenetics. Neurostimulation and modulation techniques such as regulation. The emergence of these neuromodulation technologies has greatly promoted and opened up the rapid development of neuroscience and brain science research such as emotion, memory, and cognition, as well as the application of brain disease intervention and treatment technologies and instruments. However, neuromodulation tools such as electrode stimulation and optogenetics have limited their use in brain disease research due to trauma to the brain. Magnetic stimulation can only act on the superficial cortex and lacks spatial precision. The unique mechanical wave physical properties of ultrasound and the new discovery that its mechanical effects control the electrical activity of nerve cells make it a new method with great potential for non-invasive nerve stimulation and brain disease research and treatment.

Technologies and tools for neural stimulation and circuit regulation are important driving forces for the development of neuroscience. The current goal of nervous system stimulation technology is to modulate neuronal activity by delivering exogenous energy to intact circuits, thereby modulating neurological system function. The combination of electric, magnetic, optical and other technologies with neuroscience has produced neural stimulation and regulation technologies such as deep brain stimulation, magnetic stimulation, and optogenetic regulation.

Electrode deep brain stimulation (Deep Brain Stimulation, DBS) is to implant the electrode into the target of the characteristic nerve nucleus in the brain. It can suppress the abnormal nerve function of the target cells through controllable high-frequency current stimulation, so as to achieve the purpose of effective intervention and treatment of diseases. Since it was first used for tremor control in 1987, more than 100,000 patients worldwide have been implanted with DBS devices for many intractable brain diseases such as Parkinson's disease, depression, intractable epilepsy, and dystonia. , intractable pain, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc. provide an effective intervention method. However, the application of DBS also has important limitations: clinically, implanting 1 to 2 electrodes into deep brain tissue through craniotomy to stimulate nuclei will cause permanent trauma to brain tissue and neural circuits, and the target cannot be replaced. , It is difficult to achieve the stimulation of more nuclei, and the entire power supply equipment has to be surgically implanted into the body. The stimulating electrodes applied to the individual's brain will affect the normal function of the body. After the DBS electrode is used for a period of time, a glial cell sheath will form around the electrode, which not only affects the efficiency of the electrode, but also affects the normal function of the body. Moreover, in When electrical stimulation is applied, the applied electrical stimulation always causes an excitatory response, and only when the inhibitory nucleus is stimulated, an inhibitory response can be induced. These shortcomings also limit the application of electrical stimulation technology in regulating neural circuits.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) technology is a non-invasive treatment technology. It generates a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the coil by a transient, high-voltage pulse generated by a magnetic coil placed on the scalp, which acts on the brain tissue and generates an induced current. , to depolarize nerve cells and generate evoked potentials. This technology can be used to evaluate nerve electrophysiological conduction pathways, and try to use it in the neurorehabilitation treatment of depression, epilepsy, stroke, schizophrenia, autism and other diseases. However, TMS technology has bottlenecks such as insufficient depth of stimulation, inability to focus, low resolution of stimulation, and difficulty in determining the stimulation area.

The newly developed optogenetics technology (Optogenetics), which has been developed in the past ten years, has realized the selective regulation of a certain microcircuit at the cellular level, that is, the excitability or inhibition of a certain circuit by giving different wavelengths of laser light. Regulation has strongly promoted the development of neuroscience. However, optogenetics activates light-sensitive channels by giving lasers of different wavelengths. Due to the strong absorption of light by biological tissues, the distance of light transmission is severely limited (only a few millimeters), so it needs to be tested in patients or tested animals. Inserting optical fibers and fiber optic catheters into the corresponding brain regions, which will inevitably damage some brain regions during the operation, resulting in the loss of certain physiological functions of the nervous system.

Methods of modulating neural activity include invasive and non-invasive techniques. However, many of these techniques, such as DBS and optogenetics, require surgical implantation of stimulating electrodes, which is an invasive, expensive and even dangerous procedure. For example, surgical implantation of stimulating electrodes increases secondary medical risks such as infection. Although TMS is non-invasive, it has bottlenecks such as insufficient stimulation depth, inability to focus, low stimulation resolution, and difficulty in determining the stimulation area, so it cannot be applied to deep brain stimulation.

Ultrasound, as a kind of mechanical wave, is generated by the vibration of an object (sound source) and causes its propagation through the compression and expansion of the medium. Medical ultrasound usually refers to sound waves with a frequency in the range of 20kHz to 10MHz. In addition to the general properties of waves, ultrasound has another important feature. Its attenuation in human tissues such as water and muscle is very small, and it can reach deeper human tissues. The interaction between medical ultrasound and human tissue mainly uses the basic physical characteristics of the interaction between sound waves and matter, and has three acoustic effects, namely wave effect, mechanical effect and thermal effect. These effects have important applications or great potential in biomedicine. Traditional ultrasound is based on the wave effect and thermal effect, and has developed into two basic functions of imaging diagnosis and thermal ablation therapy. The wave effect can be used in B-ultrasound, color Doppler ultrasound, contrast-enhanced imaging and other ultrasonic imaging diagnostic techniques that are widely used in clinical practice; the thermal effect can be used in the thermal ablation of tumors and the treatment of nerve nucleus damage, such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).

An advantage of ultrasound nerve stimulation and modulation is its non-invasive nature. The latest scientific evidence on the neuromodulation of ultrasound at the molecular, cellular, animal and human brain levels strongly proves that ultrasound can pass through the human skull non-invasively and effectively regulate synaptic plasticity, neuron regulation and neural nuclei in deep brain regions.

In the patent application titled Transcranial Ultrasonic Stimulation Device and Method for Restoring Cranial Nerve Function (Application No. CN201210576849.4), it discloses a device and method for transcranial ultrasonic stimulation repairing cranial nerve function. The device includes a function signal Generator, power amplifier and ultrasonic transducer, wherein, after the function signal generator generates the stimulation signal required for stimulation, it is amplified to the high-voltage pulse signal required by the ultrasonic transducer through the power amplifier, and then passed through the ultrasonic transducer The ultrasonic stimulation signal can be obtained by the transducer to stimulate the brain tissue. Through the present invention, the purpose of nerve restoration treatment with low power, high resolution and non-invasiveness can be realized.

In a patent application titled Method and Apparatus for Regulating Cell Viability Using Ultrasound (Application No. CN201510378861.8), it discloses methods for regulating methods and apparatus for one or more activities of discovered or derived cells). The methods of the invention include the application of ultrasound (eg, low intensity low frequency ultrasound) to living cells to affect the cells and modulate cell activity. The device of the present invention includes one or more components that generate ultrasonic waves, such as ultrasonic transmitters, transducers, or piezoelectric transducers, composite transducers, CMUTs, and can be configured as single or multiple transducers or configurations Components in array construction. Ultrasound waves can be of any shape and can be focused or unfocused.

In a patent application titled Devices and Methods for Regulating Brain Activity (Application No.: CN201080056295.4), it provides devices and methods for brain regulation. The device consists of a body and components for activating the brain. Such components include ultrasound transducers. The device is used to deliver ultrasound to brain structures in a subject wearing the device in order to perform therapeutic traumatic brain injury, affect postural control, affect alertness, attention, and vigilance, provide memory control, alter cerebral vascular blood Methods of fluid dynamics, minimizing stress, and enhancing behavior.

In above-mentioned three disclosed patent schemes, there are following deficiencies:

The solution of the first patent uses a single-array ultrasonic transducer. Although, it is proposed in the claims that the ultrasonic transducer is equipped with collimators of different diameters or adopts a self-focusing ultrasonic transducer. However, due to the non-uniformity of the skull and the strong scattering of ultrasound, whether using a collimator or a self-focusing ultrasound transducer, it is difficult to control the propagation path of the ultrasound through the skull, so it is difficult to achieve accurate positioning.

The second patent has the following disadvantages: 1. Although it is stated in the claims that the ultrasonic components can include 1 to 1000 array elements, there is no optimal arrangement for the arrangement of the array elements; 2. Although the claims It is proposed that the ultrasonic transducer elements are driven by analog or digital waveforms, so that the stimulation waveform contains single or multiple ultrasonic frequencies, but it is not proposed to adopt personalized driving parameters (such as voltage, time delay, etc.) for the elements in the ultrasonic transducer array. ), to overcome the strong scattering of ultrasound due to the non-uniformity of the skull, so that precise focusing can be generated in the deep brain after passing through the skull; 3. Although it is proposed in its claims that the ultrasonic component can include up to 1000 array elements, but In some applications, larger array arrangements (>1000) may be required to produce more precise spatial focusing.

The third patent proposes a device comprising a body and components for activating the brain, delivering ultrasound waves to brain structures in a subject wearing the device in order to regulate brain activity. When regulating brain activity, multiple different locations in the brain need to be stimulated, and this plan does not explain the three-dimensional accurate multi-point stimulation method in the deep brain through the ultrasonic array and the precise control of the ultrasonic array.

Contents of the invention

Aiming at the deficiencies in the prior art, the present invention proposes an ultrasonic brain stimulation and control device and method based on a large-scale area array element. The device includes a large-scale surface array ultrasonic transducer, an ultrasonic controller, an ultrasonic coupling device, and the like. The method uses an ultrasonic controller to control the ultrasonic transducer array to emit ultrasonic waves, and through the acoustic coupling device and the skull, precisely focus on one or more positions in the deep brain region for acoustic stimulation or regulation.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposes a method of ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation based on a large-scale area array element, the method comprising: step 1, establishing a three-dimensional digital model of the head; Set up a virtual sound source, and use the virtual sound source to emit ultrasonic waves to the surroundings; step 3, perform sound field simulation based on the three-dimensional digital model of the head, and simulate the ultrasonic waves emitted by the virtual sound source through the brain tissue, skull, and ultrasonic coupling device Finally, the acoustic parameters when arriving at the position of the array element, and simulate the voltage signal obtained by the ultrasonic transducer through piezoelectric conversion; step 4, according to the obtained acoustic parameters and voltage signal, time inversion is performed, and the array element is applied Corresponding to the voltage of the voltage signal, ultrasonic waves are emitted, and the ultrasonic waves pass through the skull and focus at the virtual sound source in the brain to perform ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation.

Further, in step 1, the method includes: acquiring structural information and physical information of the head including skull and brain tissue, and establishing a three-dimensional digital model of the head according to the structural information and physical information of the head.

Further, in step 1, the method includes: using computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging to perform three-dimensional scanning of the head to obtain structural information and physical information of the head including skull and brain tissue.

Further, the physical information of the head includes: density and sound attenuation.

Further, the acoustic parameters include: sound intensity, sound pressure, and time required for ultrasonic waves to arrive.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention also proposes an ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation device based on a large-scale array element, which includes: an ultrasonic generating device, an ultrasonic control device, and an ultrasonic coupling device; wherein the ultrasonic generating device includes a replacement The transducer array element is used to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves; the ultrasonic coupling device is used to guide the ultrasonic waves emitted by the ultrasonic generating device into the head; the ultrasonic control device includes: a model building module, which is used to establish a three-dimensional digital model of the head; The simulation module is used to set a virtual sound source at the position where the brain needs to be stimulated or adjusted, and use the virtual sound source to emit ultrasonic waves to the surroundings, and perform sound field simulation based on the three-dimensional digital model of the head to simulate the sound emitted by the virtual sound source. Acoustic parameters when the ultrasonic wave reaches the position of the transducer element after passing through the brain tissue, skull, and ultrasonic coupling device, and simulates the voltage signal obtained by the ultrasonic transducer after piezoelectric conversion; the control module is used to obtain The acoustic parameters and the voltage signal are reversed in time, and the voltage corresponding to the voltage signal is applied to the transducer array element, so that the ultrasonic wave generating device emits ultrasonic waves, and realizes the virtual reality of the ultrasonic waves passing through the skull in the brain. Focus on the sound source for ultrasound brain stimulation or modulation.

Further, the device includes: a heat dissipation water cooling device, which is used to dissipate heat from the ultrasonic generating device.

Further, the model building module is also used to obtain structural information and physical information of the head including skull and brain tissue, and establish a three-dimensional digital model of the head according to the structural information and physical information of the head.

Further, the model building module is also used to perform three-dimensional scanning of the head by computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and obtain structural information and physical information of the head including skull and brain tissue.

Further, the physical information of the head includes: density and sound attenuation.

Further, the acoustic parameters include: sound intensity, sound pressure, and time required for ultrasonic waves to arrive.

The ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation method and device based on large-scale array elements proposed by the present invention can realize precise focusing at multiple points in the brain, and realize single-point or multi-point dynamic ultrasonic stimulation or regulation.

Description of drawings

The drawings described here are used to provide further understanding of the present invention, constitute a part of the application, and do not limit the present invention. In the attached picture:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation method based on a large-scale area array element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation device based on a large-scale area array element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasonic control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of the arrangement of a two-dimensional area array of 1024 array elements according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of the focusing of the sound field of the two-dimensional area array at different depths according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5A is a simulation result of the single-focus pressure field of the acoustic radiation force field of the four-sided array ultrasonic transducer according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5B is a simulation result of the four-focus pressure field of the acoustic radiation force field of the four-sided array ultrasonic transducer according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6A is a schematic diagram of the transcranial direct focusing result of the arc-shaped array ultrasonic transducer according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6B is a schematic diagram of time-reversed transcranial focusing results of an arc-shaped array ultrasonic transducer according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7A is a schematic diagram of phased focusing results of transcranial multi-point focusing of a quadrilateral array according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7B is a schematic diagram of time-reversal focusing results of transcranial multi-point focusing of a four-sided array according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

The technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the intended invention purpose are further described below in conjunction with the drawings and preferred embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation method based on a large-scale area array element according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the method includes:

Step 1, establish a three-dimensional digital model of the head.

Step 2: Set up a virtual sound source at one or more locations where the brain needs to be stimulated or regulated, and use the virtual sound source to emit ultrasound to the surroundings; this step assumes that the virtual sound source at one or more locations emits ultrasound to the surroundings.

Step 3: Carry out sound field simulation based on the three-dimensional digital model of the head, simulate the acoustic parameters when the ultrasonic wave emitted by the virtual sound source passes through the brain tissue, skull, and ultrasonic coupling device, and arrive at the position of the array element, and obtain the ultrasonic transducer The voltage signal obtained after piezoelectric conversion by the transducer; among them, the acoustic parameters of the head may include: sound intensity, sound pressure, and time required for ultrasonic waves to arrive.

Step 4, according to the obtained acoustic parameters and voltage signals, time inversion is performed, a voltage corresponding to the voltage signal is applied to the array element, and ultrasonic waves are emitted, so that the ultrasonic waves pass through the skull at one or more virtual sound sources in the brain Focus, perform ultrasound brain stimulation or modulation.

Further, in step 1, the method includes: acquiring structural information and physical information of the head including skull and brain tissue, and establishing a three-dimensional digital model of the head according to the structural information and physical information of the head. Wherein, the physical information of the head may include: density, sound attenuation, and the like.

Further, in step 1, computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or other three-dimensional imaging methods can be used to perform three-dimensional scanning of the head to obtain head structure information including skull and brain tissue and physical information.

Further, in step 3, the sound field simulation refers to the use of numerical simulation software to simulate the acoustics of the ultrasonic wave emitted by the virtual sound source after passing through the brain tissue, skull, and ultrasonic coupling device and reaching the position of the array element based on the three-dimensional digital model of the head. parameters, and then simulate the voltage signal obtained by the ultrasonic transducer after piezoelectric conversion. Numerical simulation software includes software such as finite difference time domain (FDTD), COMSOL, PZFlex or other software.

Based on the above inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention also provides an ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation device based on a large-scale area array element, as described in the following embodiments. Since the problem-solving principle of this device is similar to the above-mentioned ultrasonic brain stimulation or control method based on large-scale array elements, the implementation of this device can refer to the implementation of the above-mentioned method, and the repetition will not be repeated. As used below, the term "unit" or "module" may be a combination of software and/or hardware that realizes a predetermined function. Although the devices described in the following embodiments are preferably implemented in software, implementations in hardware, or a combination of software and hardware are also possible and contemplated.

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation device based on a large-scale area array element according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2 , the device includes: an ultrasonic generating device 1 , an ultrasonic coupling device 2 , and an ultrasonic control device 3 ; in addition, the device may also include a heat dissipation water cooling device 4 .

Wherein, the ultrasonic generating device 1 includes transducer array elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves.

The ultrasonic coupling device 2 is used to guide the ultrasonic waves emitted by the ultrasonic generating device into the head.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasonic control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 3, the ultrasonic control device 3 includes:

Model building module 31, used to set up a three-dimensional digital model of the head;

The simulation module 32 is used to set a virtual sound source at the position where the brain needs to be stimulated or adjusted, and use the virtual sound source to emit ultrasonic waves around, and perform sound field simulation based on the three-dimensional digital model of the head to simulate the emission of the virtual sound source Acoustic parameters when the ultrasonic wave reaches the position of the transducer element after passing through the brain tissue, skull, and ultrasonic coupling device, and simulate the voltage signal obtained by the ultrasonic transducer after piezoelectric conversion;

The control module 33 is used to invert the time according to the obtained acoustic parameters and voltage signals, and control to apply a voltage corresponding to the voltage signal to the transducer array element, so that the ultrasonic generating device emits ultrasonic waves to realize Ultrasonic waves pass through the skull and are focused at a virtual sound source in the brain for ultrasonic brain stimulation or modulation.

Further, the heat dissipation water cooling device 4 is used for heat dissipation of the ultrasonic generating device.

In this embodiment, the user can transmit the control command to the ultrasonic control device 3 through the computer, and the ultrasonic control device 3 receives the command and controls the ultrasonic generating device 1 . Because there is a gap between the ultrasonic generating device 1 (ultrasonic probe) and the head, there will be air, and the attenuation of the ultrasonic wave in the air is very large, so it is necessary to set the ultrasonic coupling device 3 to reduce the attenuation, and the ultrasonic generating device 1 sends The ultrasonic energy is coupled to the head. Since the ultrasonic generating device 1 generates a large amount of heat when it is in operation, a heat dissipation water cooling device 4 is required to dissipate heat.

In this embodiment, the model building module 31 is also used to obtain head structure information and physical information including skull and brain tissue, and build a three-dimensional digital model of the head according to the head structure information and physical information.

In this embodiment, the model building module 31 is also used to perform three-dimensional scanning of the head using computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging to obtain head structural information and physical information including skull and brain tissue.

In this embodiment, the ultrasonic generating device 1 may include one or more components for generating ultrasonic waves, such as ultrasonic transmitters, transducers, piezoelectric transducers, piezoelectric polymer transducers, composite transducers, etc. transducer, gas matrix piezoelectric transducer, CMUT (capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer), PMUT (piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer).

The transducer elements in the ultrasonic generating device 1 are arranged in the form of an array, which can be arranged in a plane array, a spherical surface, an arc surface or other structures or forms suitable for the head.

The ultrasonic control device 3 may also include components for controlling the transmission and reception of data by the ultrasonic array element, the ultrasonic array element sending component controls the waveform, power and delay sent by one or more array elements, and controls multiple array elements to work together Ultrasonic waves are emitted, and the ultrasonic array element receiving part controls the array element to receive echoes.

The ultrasonic brain stimulation or control method and device based on large-scale area array elements proposed by the present invention are compared with the first patent solution in the background technology. The first patent solution uses a single-array ultrasonic transducer. Due to the non-uniformity of the skull and the strong scattering of ultrasound, it is difficult to control the propagation path of the ultrasound through the skull, so it is difficult to achieve accurate positioning. The present invention is based on a time inversion method, uses an ultrasonic controller to control a large-scale surface array ultrasonic transducer, can realize precise focusing at multiple points in the brain, and realizes single-point or multi-point, dynamic ultrasonic stimulation and regulation.

Compared with the second patent scheme in the background technology, the second patent scheme proposes to use an ultrasonic transducer with 1 to 1000 array elements, but does not propose a specific arrangement of array elements, and does not propose a specific transducer array element drive In this way, 1000 array elements are not necessarily enough to produce precise focus across the brain. The present invention adopts large-scale surface array ultrasonic transducers (10,000 to 10,000), based on the time inversion method, utilizes an ultrasonic controller to adopt personalized driving parameters (such as voltage , time delay), overcome the strong scattering of ultrasound due to the non-uniformity of the skull, implement precise focusing on single or multiple points in the brain, and realize multi-point, dynamic ultrasound stimulation and regulation.

Compared with the third patent solution in the background technology, the third patent solution does not explain the three-dimensional accurate multi-point stimulation method in the deep brain through the ultrasonic array and the precise control of the ultrasonic array. In the present invention, the ultrasonic control device controls the ultrasonic transducer array to emit ultrasonic waves, and through the acoustic coupling device and the skull, precisely focuses on one or more positions in the deep brain region to perform sound stimulation or regulation.

In order to explain more clearly the above-mentioned ultrasonic brain stimulation or control method and device based on large-scale area array elements, the following will be described in conjunction with several specific embodiments, but it is worth noting that this embodiment is only for better The present invention is described in detail and does not constitute an improper limitation of the present invention.

Embodiment 1: Simulate the single-point focusing of the two-dimensional area array probe in space. The two-dimensional area array shown in FIG. 4A has a 32×32 square array composed of 1024 array elements. The center frequency of the piezoelectric array element is 1.5MHz, the array element diameter is 5.0mm, and the array element spacing is 0.15mm. Figure 4B shows the focusing of the sound field of the two-dimensional area array at different depths.

Embodiment 2: Simulate the distribution of the acoustic radiation force field of the four-sided array ultrasonic transducer, the center frequency is 0.5 MHz, and the focal depth is 100-150 mm. Figure 5A shows the simulation results of a single-focus pressure field, and Figure 5B shows the simulation results of a four-focus pressure field.

Embodiment 3: Simulation results of the arc-shaped array ultrasonic transducer passing through the human skull and focusing in the deep brain. Using the skull image, the two-dimensional skull shape model is obtained after processing. The outer diameter of the skull is about 300mm. For the time being, the layering and non-uniformity of the skull itself is not considered, and the shear wave effect in the skull is not considered. The skull is only regarded as a uniform acoustic medium. , the acoustic parameters are density 1658kg/m ³ , sound velocity 3360m/s; the non-uniformity of intracranial brain tissue is temporarily ignored, and all parts except the skull are set as water, the acoustic parameters are density 1000kg/m ³ , sound velocity 1500m/s s.

Figure 6A is a schematic diagram of the direct transcranial focusing results of the arc-shaped array ultrasonic transducer, and Figure 6B is a schematic diagram of the time-reversed transcranial focusing results of the arc-shaped array ultrasonic transducer. Transcranial focusing of arc arrays. The frequency of the piezoelectric array element is 1MHz. Figure 6A shows the result of direct focusing of the semicircular transducer array to the geometric center, and Figure 6B shows the result of time-reversed transcranial focusing. The distribution of the peak sound pressure was normalized based on the maximum sound pressure in the brain. Compared to visible time-reversal focusing, the focal point is smaller and the energy is more concentrated.

Embodiment 4: Simulating the results of transcranial focusing of a four-sided array ultrasonic transducer. When the energy is injected from four directions, the shape of the focus is more regular, the size of the focus is smaller, and the degree of energy concentration is higher (strong gradient field) than when the energy is injected from a single direction. Figure 7A is a schematic diagram of the phased focusing results of the four-sided array transcranial multi-point focusing according to a specific embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 7B shows the time-reversal focusing of the four-sided array transcranial multi-point focusing according to a specific embodiment of the present invention A schematic diagram of the results and a quantitative comparison were made. Due to the different amplitudes of the time-reversed emission waveforms of each array element, when the maximum emission energy of the time-reversal is the same as that of the phase-controlled focusing, the sound pressure amplitudes at each focal point are normalized and compared. The sound pressure amplitudes of the four focal points of the time-reversal method are: 1.00, 1.00, 0.95, 0.83; the sound pressure amplitudes of the four focal points of the phase-controlled focusing method are: 0.70, 0.18, 0.41, 0.43. It can be seen from the results that the four-sided array transcranial time inversion can achieve precise focusing of multiple points.

The ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation method and device based on large-scale array elements proposed by the present invention can realize precise focusing at multiple points in the brain, and realize single-point or multi-point dynamic ultrasonic stimulation or regulation.

The specific embodiments described above have further described the purpose, technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present invention in detail. It should be understood that the above descriptions are only specific embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Protection scope, within the spirit and principles of the present invention, any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc., shall be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

1. An ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation method based on large-scale area array elements is characterized by comprising the following steps:

step 1, establishing a head three-dimensional digital model;

step 2, setting a virtual sound source at a position of the brain to be stimulated or regulated, and transmitting ultrasonic waves to the periphery by using the virtual sound source;

step 3, performing sound field simulation based on the head three-dimensional digital model, simulating acoustic parameters when ultrasonic waves emitted by the virtual sound source reach array element positions after passing through a brain tissue, a skull and an ultrasonic coupling device, and performing simulation to obtain voltage signals obtained after the ultrasonic transducer is subjected to piezoelectric conversion;

and 4, inverting the time according to the obtained acoustic parameters and voltage signals, applying voltage corresponding to the voltage signals to the array elements, and transmitting ultrasonic waves to realize the focusing of the ultrasonic waves at a virtual sound source in the brain through the skull so as to perform ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation.

2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that in step 1 the method comprises:

acquiring head structure information and physical information including skull and brain tissues, and establishing a head three-dimensional digital model according to the head structure information and the physical information.

3. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that in step 1 the method comprises:

the head is scanned three-dimensionally by computer tomography or magnetic resonance imaging to acquire structural and physical information of the head including the skull and the brain tissue.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the physical information of the header comprises: density, acoustic attenuation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the acoustic parameters comprise: sound intensity, sound pressure, time required for the ultrasonic wave to reach.

6. An ultrasound brain stimulation or regulation device based on large-scale planar array elements, the device comprising: the ultrasonic generator, ultrasonic control device, ultrasonic coupling device; wherein,

the ultrasonic wave generating device comprises a transducer array element and a signal processing unit, wherein the transducer array element is used for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves;

the ultrasonic coupling device is used for guiding the ultrasonic waves emitted by the ultrasonic generating device into the head;

an ultrasound control device comprising:

the model building module is used for building a head three-dimensional digital model;

the simulation module is used for setting a virtual sound source at a position of the brain to be stimulated or regulated, transmitting ultrasonic waves to the periphery by using the virtual sound source, carrying out sound field simulation based on the head three-dimensional digital model, simulating acoustic parameters when the ultrasonic waves transmitted by the virtual sound source reach the position of the transducer array after passing through a brain tissue, a skull and an ultrasonic coupling device, and simulating to obtain a voltage signal obtained by the ultrasonic transducer after piezoelectric conversion;

and the control module is used for inverting time according to the obtained acoustic parameters and voltage signals, controlling the voltage corresponding to the voltage signals to be applied to the transducer array element, enabling the ultrasonic wave generating device to emit ultrasonic waves, realizing the focusing of the ultrasonic waves at a virtual sound source in the brain after the ultrasonic waves penetrate through the skull, and carrying out ultrasonic brain stimulation or regulation.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the apparatus comprises: and the heat dissipation water cooling device is used for dissipating heat of the ultrasonic wave generating device.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the model building module is further configured to obtain head structure information and physical information including the skull and the brain tissue, and build a three-dimensional digital model of the head according to the head structure information and the physical information.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the model building module is further configured to perform a three-dimensional scan of the head using computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging to obtain structural and physical information of the head including the skull and the brain tissue.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the physical information of the header comprises: density, acoustic attenuation.

11. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the acoustic parameters comprise: sound intensity, sound pressure, time required for the ultrasonic wave to reach.