Phase-shift Perfluoropentane Nanoemulsions Enhance Pulsed High-intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation in an Isolated Perfused Liver System and Their Potential Value for Cancer Therapy.

Purpose: To investigate whether phase-shift perfluoropetane (PFP) nanoemulsions can enhance pulsed high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation.

Methods: PFP was encapsulated by poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to form a nanometer-sized droplet (PLGA-PFP), which was added to an isolated perfused liver system. Meanwhile, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was used as a control.

Effects of Non-Focused Microbubble-Enhanced and High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound on Hemostasis in a Rabbit Model of Liver Trauma.

Uncontrolled hemorrhage after trauma to the liver can lead to death. The present study compared the effects of non-focused microbubble-enhanced ultrasound and high-intensity focused ultrasound on hepatic hemostasis in the injured liver. Blood perfusion level, serum liver enzyme levels and the aspartate transaminase/alanine transaminase ratio differed between the two types of treatment (all p values < 0.

Cavitation enhances coagulated size during pulsed high-intensity focussed ultrasound ablation in an isolated liver perfusion system.

Purpose: To investigate whether cavitation enhances the degree of coagulation during pulsed high-intensity focussed ultrasound (HIFU) in an isolated liver perfusion system.

Methods: Isolated liver was treated by pulsed HIFU or continuous-wave HIFU with different portal vein flow rates. The cavitation emission during exposure was recorded, and real-time ultrasound images were used to observe changes in the grey scale.

[Effect of low-dose focused ultrasound pre-irradiation versus microbubbles for enhancing high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation of VX hepatic tumor in rabbits].

Objective: To compare the effect of low-dose focused ultrasound pre-irradiation and microbubbles for enhancing the ablation effect of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) on VX hepatic tumor in rabbits.

Methods: Fifty-five rabbits bearing VX hepatic tumor were randomly divided into low-dose pre-irradiation + HIFU ablation group, microbubbles+HIFU ablation group, and HIFU ablation group for corresponding treatments. The pathological changes in the tumors after low-dose irradiation, time for HIFU ablation, tumor volume with coagulative necrosis, energy efficiency factor (EEF), pathological changes in the ablated tumor, and sound channel of HIFU ablation were observed.

Acoustic Cavitation Enhances Focused Ultrasound Ablation with Phase-Shift Inorganic Perfluorohexane Nanoemulsions: An In Vitro Study Using a Clinical Device.

Purpose. To investigate whether acoustic cavitation could increase the evaporation of a phase-shift inorganic perfluorohexane (PFH) nanoemulsion and enhance high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation. Materials and Methods.

Tissue ablation accelerated by peripheral scanning mode with high-intensity focused ultrasound: a study on isolated porcine liver perfusion.

The aims of this study were to investigate the feasibility of accelerated tissue ablation using a peripheral scanning mode with high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and to explore the effect of flow rate on total energy consumption of the target tissues. Using a model of isolated porcine liver perfusion via the portal vein and hepatic artery, we conducted a scanning protocol along the periphery of the target tissues using linear-scanned HIFU to carefully adjust the varying focal depth, generator power, scanning velocity and line-by-line interval over the entire ablation range. Porcine livers were divided into four ablation groups: group 1, n = 12, with dual-vessel perfusion; group 2, n = 11, with portal vein perfusion alone; group 3, n = 10, with hepatic artery perfusion alone; and group 4, n = 11, control group with no-flow perfusion.

Focused-ultrasound termination of an early pregnancy in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): a pilot study.

We explored the effectiveness, safety, and feasibility of focused ultrasound in terminating undesired pregnancy. A high-intensity focused ultrasound therapeutic unit was employed to terminate early pregnancies in rhesus macaques. B-mode ultrasound incorporated within the system was used to locate and study the gestational sacs of 6 rhesus macaques with gestation ages of 37 to 66 days, and varying modes of ultrasound exposure were adopted in the termination of the early pregnancies of the rhesus macaques.

[Doppler flow imaging characteristics of blood supply of uterine fibroids on the therapeutic dosage of ultrasound ablation].

Objective: To explore the relationship between therapeutic dosage of ultrasound ablation in treatment of uterine fibroids and imaging characteristics of bloody supply of uterine fibroids by color Doppler ultrasound imaging.

Methods: One hundred and forty-two patients with 168 fibroids were treated by ultrasound ablation. Before treatment, bloody supply of fibroids were classified into grade 0 - 4 by ultrasonography.

Feasibility of US-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer: initial experience.

The study was approved by the university ethics committee, and informed consent was obtained from all patients. The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate ultrasonographically guided high-intensity focused ultrasound in the treatment of patients with advanced-stage pancreatic cancer. Eight patients underwent high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation, and laboratory and radiologic examinations were performed after intervention.

Extracorporeal high intensity focused ultrasound treatment for patients with breast cancer.

Purpose: To investigate the safety, efficacy and feasibility of using high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) as a non-invasive treatment for patients with breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-two patients with breast cancer were enrolled into this non-randomized prospective trial. Disease TNM stage was classified as stage I in 4 patients, stage II(A) in 9 patients, stage II(B) in 8 patients, and stage IV in 1 patient.

Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: treatment with high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation combined with transcatheter arterial embolization.

Purpose: To evaluate ultrasonographically (US)-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) in the treatment of stage IVA hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Materials And Methods: Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained. From November 1998 to May 2000, 50 consecutive patients with stage IVA HCC (TNM classification, T4N0-1M0) were alternately enrolled in one of two treatment groups: group 1 (n = 26), in which TACE was performed alone, and group 2 (n = 24), in which transcutaneous ablation of HCC with high-intensity focused ultrasound was performed 2-4 weeks after TACE.

Extracorporeal high intensity focused ultrasound ablation in the treatment of patients with large hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a noninvasive treatment modality that induces complete coagulative necrosis of a deep tumor through the intact skin. The current study was conducted to determine the safety, efficacy, and feasibility of extracorporeal HIFU in the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: A total of 55 patients with HCC with cirrhosis were enrolled in this prospective, nonrandomized clinical trial.

Circulating tumor cells in patients with solid malignancy treated by high-intensity focused ultrasound.

The theoretical possibility that exposure of a solid malignancy to high-intensity focused ultrasound (US), or HIFU, could lead to an increased rate of metastasis still remains. Using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the potential risk of hematogenous dissemination was assessed in HIFU-treated patients with solid malignancy. RT-PCR can demonstrate the presence or absence of specific RNA fragments.

Extracorporeal focused ultrasound surgery for treatment of human solid carcinomas: early Chinese clinical experience.

The objective of this article is to introduce the early Chinese clinical experience of using extracorporeal focused ultrasound (US) surgery (FUS) for the treatment of solid tumors. From December 1997 to October 2001, a total of 1038 patients with solid tumors underwent FUS ablation in 10 Chinese hospitals. The tumors included primary and metastatic liver cancer, malignant bone tumors, breast cancer, soft tissue sarcomas, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, abdominal and pelvic malignant tumors, uterine myoma, benign breast tumors, hepatic hemangioma and other solid tumors.

Changes in biologic characteristics of breast cancer treated with high-intensity focused ultrasound.

Proliferation, invasion, immortalization and metastasis are the main malignant characteristics of cancer. Previous studies have shown that high-intensity focused ultrasound (US), or HIFU, can induce irreversible damage both to breast cancer cells and to tumor blood vessels. However, light microscopy alone may not always show this clearly.

Tumor vessel destruction resulting from high-intensity focused ultrasound in patients with solid malignancies.

The purpose of this study was to explore the sequential imaging and histologic alterations of tumor blood vessels in the patient with solid malignancies after extracorporeal treatment of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). A total of 164 patients underwent extracorporeal HIFU ablation of malignant solid tumors. After HIFU treatment, enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), color Doppler ultrasound (US) imaging, dynamic radionuclide scanning, digital subtraction angiography, and histologic study were performed to monitor the response of tumor vessels to HIFU ablation.