Therapy Ultrasound Network for Drug Delivery & Ablation Research (ThUNDDAR)

因此，治疗性超声作为一种微创治疗方式具有巨大的潜力，其应用范围从癌症和中风的治疗，到骨折愈合和神经调节。它具有独特的多功能性，提供了一种非侵入性技术，能够热消融组织、机械粉碎组织或增强药物输送，具体取决于声波能量的输送方式。然而，尽管初步试验前景看好，而且在成本和患者安全性方面具有相当大的优势，但临床的广泛采用受到多种因素的阻碍。这些问题包括：对作用机制缺乏了解，缺乏有效的治疗监测，缺乏标准化的治疗方案，以及基础科学家、工程师和临床医生之间缺乏沟通。治疗超声药物输送和消融研究网络(ThundDAR)的主要重点是通过刺激转译研究来解决这些因素，使治疗性超声波的潜力得以充分实现。该网络将工程师、物理学家、数学家、化学家、生物学家、行业和临床医生以及患者团体和监管机构聚集在一起，以确定并打破在英国和世界各地使用治疗性超声波的现有和未来障碍。ThundDAR的活动将包括组织专家会议，为跨学科和机构边界的试点研究提供种子资金，以及为业界、临床用户、卫生专员和患者群体制作关于治疗超声波的网络信息。

Therapeutic ultrasound (ThUS) has enormous potential as a minimally invasive treatment modality with applications ranging from the treatment of cancer and stroke, to fracture healing and neuromodulation. It is uniquely versatile, offering a non-invasive technique with the ability to thermally ablate tissue, to mechanically fragment tissue or to enhance drug delivery, depending on the way in which the acoustic energy is delivered. However, despite highly promising initial trials and its considerable advantages in terms of cost and patient safety, widespread clinical adoption has been hindered by a combination of factors. These include: poor understanding of the mechanisms of action, lack of effective treatment monitoring, absence of standardised treatment protocols and poor communication between basic scientists, engineers and clinicians. The main focus of the Therapeutic Ultrasound for Drug Delivery and Ablation Research (ThUNDDAR) Network is to address these factors by stimulating translational research that will enable the potential of therapeutic ultrasound to be fully realised. The Network brings together engineers, physicists, mathematicians, chemists, biologists, industry and clinicians as well as patient groups and regulatory bodies to identify and break down existing, and future, barriers to the use of therapeutic ultrasound in the UK and throughout the world. ThUNDDAR's activities will include the organisation of specialist meetings, seed funding for pilot studies that cross disciplinary and institutional boundaries, and the production of web based information about therapy ultrasound for the benefit of industry, clinical users, health commissioners and patient groups.