UNLABELLED Transcranial magnetic resonance imaging-guided focused ultrasound (tcMRgFUS) is a novel technique to supplement the spectrum of established neurosurgical interventions. In contrast to traditional ablative procedures, tcMRgFUS is noninvasive and entirely imaging-guided with continuous temperature measurements at and around the target in real time. It has no trajectory restrictions and...

We evaluated the efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound for assessing tumors after irradiation with sub-threshold focused ultrasound (FUS) ablation in pancreatic cancer xenografts in nude mice. Thirty tumor-bearing nude mice were divided into three groups: Group A received sham irradiation, Group B received a moderate-acoustic energy dose (sub-threshold), and Group C received a high-acoustic ...

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative transmission of ultrasound by the media commonly used by physical therapists to apply phonophoresis. The relative transmission of ultrasound energy through various phonophoresis media was compared with that of degassed water, which is the ideal standard. Transmission was assessed by placing a thin layer of the test medium on the transducer...

Acoustic cavitation can occur in therapeutic applications of high-amplitude focused ultrasound. Studying acoustic cavitation has been challenging, because the onset of nucleation is unpredictable. We hypothesized that acoustic cavitation can be forced to occur at a specific location using a laser to nucleate a microcavity in a pre-established ultrasound field. In this paper we describe a scient...

Ultrasound is a form of mechanical energy with its acoustic pressure wave at frequencies range from 20 to 20,000 Hz. To date, ultrasound waves are not only used in imaging medicine for diagnosis, but also are performed in physical therapy (PT) medicine for the purpose of preventing and curing disease due to its thermal and nonthermal effects, and the ultrasound frequencies used in PT are typica...

Supercoiling DNA (folding DNA into a more compact molecule) from open circular forms requires significant bending energy. The double helix is coiled into a higher order helix form; thus it occupies a smaller footprint. Compact packing of DNA is essential to improve the efficiency of gene delivery, which has broad implications in biology and pharmaceutical research. Here we show that low-intensi...

Ultrasound is a form of mechanical energy with its acoustic pressure wave at frequencies range from 20 to 20,000 Hz. To date, ultrasound waves are not only used in imaging medicine for diagnosis, but also are performed in physical therapy (PT) medicine for the purpose of preventing and curing disease due to its thermal and nonthermal effects, and the ultrasound frequencies used in PT are typica...

Low intensity ultrasound signals, similar to that employed in clinical therapy, are found to mediate differential gene transfer and expression of the Green Fluorescence Protein (GFP) reporter in two human prostate cancer cell lines, LnCap and PC-3. Cell suspensions in the presence or in the absence of GFP (44.5nM) were treated at 37 degrees C under a standing wave condition. Cells were exposed ...

High Intensity Focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a non-invasive cancer therapy that makes use of the mainly thermal effects of ultrasound to destroy tissue. In order to achieve reliable treatment planning, it is necessary to characterise the ultrasound source (transducer) and to understand how the wave propagates in tissue and the energy deposition in the focal region. This novel exploratory study i...