As an acoustic wave propagates through the tissue, part of it is absorbed and converted to heat. With focused beams, a very small region of heating can be achieved deep in tissues (usually on the order of millimeters). Tissue damage occurs as a function of both the temperature to which the tissue is heated and how long the tissue is exposed to this heat level in a metric referred to as "thermal dose". By focusing at more than one place or by scanning the focus, a volume can be thermally ablated. Thermal doses of 120-240 min at 43 °C coagulate cellular protein and leads to irreversible tissue destruction.