While non-invasive Focused Ultrasound Surgery (FUS) offers a promising alternative to traditional tumor excision, real-time monitoring of the ablation has historically relied on expensive MRI guidance or standard ultrasound methods that suffer from poor specificity. To overcome this, the new multi-AM frequency technique rapidly captures changing tissue displacement at various frequencies. The study revealed a strategic split in utility: lower AM frequencies are highly accurate for estimating the overall spatial size of the ablated lesion, whereas higher frequencies provide the superior contrast necessary to track the ongoing progression of the ablation in real time.
Evaluated in an in vivo 4T1 breast cancer mouse model, the real-time displacement changes tracked by multi-AM HMIgFUS successfully predicted the final lesion development. Most notably, mice treated with this targeted, multi-frequency approach exhibited significantly slower tumor growth and prolonged overall survival compared to untreated control groups. By optimizing AM frequencies to capture rapid mechanical changes, this technology marks a major step toward highly precise, real-time intraoperative monitoring for non-invasive breast cancer therapies.