Focused ultrasound surgery (FUS) is considered as a promising approach for treating cancer and other conditions and is gaining increasing interest. However, the limited availability of experimental ultrasound array sources and multichannel electronics able to drive them hinder the research into FUS system configurations for patient conditions such as breast cancer. The work in this dissertation explored the development of ultrasound arrays for MRI guided FUS, from the point of view of the potential piezoelectric material of choice. Two materials are of particular interests in this work: Binary (x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3) O3 - (1-x)PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) piezocrystal, and newly specialized FUS material, PZ54 ceramic. A characterization methodology was developed to fully characterize the materials of choice, under ambient and extreme conditions relevant to FUS applications. Practicalities of adopting these materials into FUS were studied by using the characterized materials in designing and fabricating FUS arrays. A spherical, faceted array geometry inspired by the geodesic dome structure was proposed and implemented for the first time. Four bespoke devices, each with 96 individual elements, were implemented using PZ26 ceramic, PZ26 composite, PZ54 composite and PMN-PT composite materials, respectively for comparison. The arrays were connected to commercial electronics afterwards, to explore a prototyping route for connecting FUS devices and modular driving systems. It is concluded that PMN-PT piezocrystal and PZ54 ceramic material can offer excellent performance over conventional piezoelectric ceramics, although PMN-PT piezocrystal is sensitive to extreme conditions. The usable range of PMN-PT is suggested to be limited to 60°C in temperature and 10 MPa in pressure. However, PMN-PT piezocrystal could still be a potential alternative to conventional ceramics in FUS application if assisted with sufficient cooling circulation and bias field. The geodesic array geometry is also concluded to be able to achieve good focusing of ultrasound beam. With optimized phase control through multi-channel electronics, the focusing was improved with focusing gain up to about 30; the steering range of focus was explored within a volume of 5 x 5 x 10 mm3 beyond the array’s geometric focus, side lobes were limited to below the level of -9 dB in acoustic intensity. Larger numbers of individual controllable elements and alternative array designs will be explored in future to investigate application such as breast cancer treatment and potential pre-clinical trials.

La thérapie par faisceaux ultrasonores focalisés de forte intensité (HIFU / High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) est une nouvelle technique d’ablation tissulaire, fondée sur la focalisation de faisceaux ultrasonores de forte intensité pour réaliser une élévation de température capable de créer une nécrose thermique. Le cerveau a été jusqu’à présent peu accessible aux ultrasons car il est protégé par la boîte crânienne. Mais de nouvelles techniques de focalisation par correction des aberrations des faisceaux ultrasonores laissent espérer des applications prochaines en intracrânien, où l’HIFU pourrait constituer une intéressante alternative à la chirurgie et à la radiothérapie stéréotaxique. Le but général de ce travail a été de tester la thérapie HIFU contrôlée par Imagerie de Résonance Magnétique (IRM) pour le traitement des tumeurs cérébrales dans un modèle petit animal in vivo de tumeur cérébrale. Nous espérons ainsi fournir des apports sur la thérapie HIFU et ses effets biologiques sur le cerveau et les tumeurs cérébrales, connaissances nécessaires avant de passer à des études cliniques chez l’homme. Le plan de ce travail est le suivant : 1) développement d’un protocole de thérapie HIFU contrôlé par IRM sur le cerveau sain et sur un modèle de tumeur RG2 greffée en intracérébral chez le rat ; 2) étude des effets biologiques de l’HIFU par l’IRM et l’examen anatomo-pathologique sur le tissu cérébral sain et la tumeur RG2 en intracérébral, montrant une sensibilité variable des tissus à l’hyperthermie ; 3) étude de sécurité (tolérance et effets indésirables), démonstration d’efficacité sur la tumeur RG2 (ralentissement de l’évolution tumorale et augmentation de la survie des animaux traités). En conclusion, l’HIFU a montré sa précision et son efficacité dans le traitement de la tumeur RG2 greffée en intracérébral chez le rat. Cette technique n’est cependant pas exempte de complications, notamment un œdème périlésionnel et des hémorragies intratumorales. / High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) therapy is an innovative approach for tissue ablation, based on high intensity focused ultrasound beams. At focus, HIFU induces a temperature elevation and the tissue can be thermally destroyed. For transcranial brain therapy, the skull bone is a major limitation but new adaptive techniques for focusing ultrasound through the skull are underway and in the near future HIFU therapy could be an interesting alternative to brain surgery and radiotherapy.The overall aim of this work is to test HIFU therapy guided by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRgHIFU) for the treatment of brain tumors in an in vivo brain tumor model in rodent in order to provide inputs for future regulatory approval for clinical trial with a clinical prototype. In this work: 1) a dedicated system for transcranial MRgHIFU in an in vivo rat brain tumor model was developed, and a full protocol was applied in healthy brain tissue of rats and in transplanted tumors; 2) the biological effects of HIFU therapy was evaluated using MRI and histology in healthy brain tissue and in RG2 brain tumor, showing a different tissue sensibility for hyperthermia; 3) tolerance and side effects were investigated and the treatment was shown to improve the animal survival time by 50%. In conclusion, HIFU therapy has proved its accuracy and efficacy in the treatment of the RG2 brain tumor transplanted intracerebral in rats. However this technique is not free of complications, in particular edema and hemorrhages.