Use of Controlled Acoustic Cavitation to Enhance and Monitor Treatment by High-Intensity Focussed Ultrasound (HIFU)

使用受控声空化来增强和监测高强度聚焦超声 (HIFU) 治疗

• 批准号: EP/D06127X/1
• 负责人: Constantin Coussios
• 金额: $ 15.8万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2006 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FD06127X%2F1
• 关键词: Use; Controlled; Acoustic; Cavitation; Enhance

High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is emerging as a promising technique for treating deep-seated tumours non-invasively (i.e. without surgery). A focused ultrasound wave generated outside the body can produce sufficient tissue heating at its focus to cause cell death, leaving tissue elsewhere in the ultrasound propagation path unaffected. However, the time that it takes to destroy relatively large tumors using this technique in its present state is rather long. In addition, it is extremely difficult to monitor the region of tissue being ablated during HIFU exposure, which further hinders the treatment efficacy and prevents its widespread clinical uptake. Recent research has shown that, under the right conditions, the high-intensity ultrasound wave can generate and excite micron-sized bubbles at the focus, which substantially increases the rate of heating during HIFU treatment. These microbubbles can be readily detected during HIFU exposure. The proposed research aims primarily at developing a controller that will produce and sustain microbubbles at the focus throughout HIFU exposure, preventing them from growing uncontrollably toward the HIFU transducer. If it can be shown that tissue is only destroyed in the region where microbubbles are detected, then it will become possible to monitor HIFU treatment in real time, whilst also achieving faster rates of heating. This should promote clinical uptake of HIFU therapy, thus improving the quality of life of cancer patients worldwide.

高强度聚焦超声（HIFU）是非侵入性（即无需手术）治疗深部肿瘤的一种很有前途的技术。体外产生的聚焦超声波可以在其焦点处产生足够的组织加热，导致细胞死亡，而超声波传播路径上的其他组织不受影响。然而，在目前的状态下，使用这种技术摧毁相对较大的肿瘤所需的时间相当长。此外，在HIFU暴露期间，很难监测被消融的组织区域，这进一步阻碍了治疗效果并阻碍了其广泛的临床应用。最近的研究表明，在适当的条件下，高强度的超声波可以在焦点处产生并激发微米大小的气泡，这大大提高了HIFU治疗过程中的加热速度。这些微泡在HIFU暴露时很容易被检测到。提出的研究主要旨在开发一种控制器，该控制器将在HIFU暴露的整个过程中在焦点处产生并维持微泡，防止它们不受控制地向HIFU换能器生长。如果能证明组织只在检测到微泡的区域被破坏，那么就有可能实时监测HIFU治疗，同时也能实现更快的加热速度。这将促进HIFU治疗的临床应用，从而提高全世界癌症患者的生活质量。

项目成果

Correlation of Heating Rate and Cavitation Activity during HIFU Exposure in vitro

体外 HIFU 暴露期间加热速率与空化活动的相关性

• 发表时间: 2009
• 期刊: Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
• 影响因子: 2.9
• 作者: J Collin