“Non-thermal” ablation using focused ultrasound and an ultrasound contrast agent

Background/introduction The combination of focused ultrasound and an intravenously-injected microbubble ultrasound contrast agent offers the ability to reduce the power needed to ablate tissue, which is particularly important for targets in the brain since it can eliminate skull heating. When applied at a low duty cycle so that bulk tissue heating does not occur, the mechanical effects induced by inertial cavitation result in ablation via the destruction of blood vessels. This alternative method for tissue ablation may have advantages for the treatment of brain tumors.