Focused ultrasound has been widely investigated in medical applications for tissue
ablation and, more recently, drug delivery and neuromodulation. Those techniques require
high focusing precision in the brain, where treatment is commonly planned with the
help of numerical simulations. Treatment planning is patient-specific based on computed
tomography (CT) images and/or magnetic resonance images. In this study, a threshold
segmentation process based on the density and sound speed values obtained from CT
data conversion was tested in thermoacoustic simulations using the k-Wave Matlab Toolbox.
Acoustic and thermal mappings generated by focused ultrasound sources provided information
about treatment targeting and safety, including temperature mappings covering the
skull and brain tissues. This study allows identifying if the ultrasound stimulus
is optimal for neuromodulation protocols and ensures the safety of the technique.
