{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T10:41:00Z","timestamp":1790678460449,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Acoustical Society of America (ASA)","issue":"2","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006599","name":"Focused Ultrasound Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006599","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In transcranial focused ultrasound therapies, such as treating essential tremor via thermal ablation in the thalamus, acoustic energy is focused through the skull using a phased-array transducer. Ray tracing is a computationally efficient method that can correct skull-induced phase aberrations via per-element phase delay calculations using patient-specific computed tomography (CT) data. However, recent studies show that variations in CT-derived Hounsfield unit may account for only 50% of the speed of sound variability in human skull specimens, potentially limiting clinical transcranial ultrasound applications. Therefore, understanding the sensitivity of treatment planning methods to material parameter variations is essential. The present work uses a ray-tracing simulation model to explore how imprecision in model inputs, arising from clinically significant uncertainties in skull properties or considerations of acoustic phenomena, affects acoustic focusing quality through the skull. We propose and validate new methods to optimize ray-tracing skull simulations for clinical treatment planning, relevant for predicting intracranial target's thermal rise, using experimental data from ex-vivo human skulls.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0020761","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,23]],"date-time":"2023-08-23T10:37:35Z","timestamp":1692787055000},"page":"1211-1225","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["A simulation study on the sensitivity of transcranial ray-tracing ultrasound modeling to skull properties"],"prefix":"10.1121","volume":"154","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2922-9522","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert Andrew","family":"Drainville","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"LabTAU, INSERM, Centre L\u00e9on B\u00e9rard, Universit\u00e9 Lyon 1, Univ Lyon 1 , F-69003, Lyon,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6891-818X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sylvain","family":"Chatillon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universit\u00e9 Paris-Saclay, CEA 2 , List, F-91120, Palaiseau,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Moore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Focused Ultrasound Foundation 3 , Charlottesville, Virginia 22903,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-2508-8442","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"John","family":"Snell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Histosonics 4 , Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2452-9497","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Frederic","family":"Padilla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Focused Ultrasound Foundation 3 , Charlottesville, Virginia 22903,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1550-970X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cyril","family":"Lafon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LabTAU, INSERM, Centre L\u00e9on B\u00e9rard, Universit\u00e9 Lyon 1, Univ Lyon 1 , F-69003, Lyon,","place":["France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"231","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,23]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"2026081408414796700_c1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1080\/02656730701200094","article-title":"Clinical applications of focused ultrasound\u2014The brain","volume":"23","year":"2007","journal-title":"Int. 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