Ultrasound Histotripsy on a Viable Perfused Whole Porcine Liver: Histological Aspects, Including 3D Reconstruction of the Histotripsy Site.

Non-invasive therapeutic-focused ultrasound (US) can be used for the mechanical dissociation of tissue and is described as histotripsy. We have performed US histotripsy in viable perfused ex vivo porcine livers as a step in the development of a novel approach to hepatocyte cell transplantation. The histotripsy nidus was created with a 2 MHz single-element focused US transducer, producing 50 pulses of 10 ms duration, with peak positive and negative pressure values of P+ = 77.

Liver Ultrasound Histotripsy: Novel Analysis of the Histotripsy Site Cell Constituents with Implications for Histotripsy Application in Cell Transplantation and Cancer Therapy.

Allogenic hepatocyte transplantation is an attractive alternative to whole-organ transplantation, particularly for the treatment of metabolic disorders and acute liver failure. However, the shortage of human donor organs for cell isolation, the low cell yield from decellularisation regimes, and low engraftment rates from portal administration of donor cells have restricted its clinical application. Using ultrasound histotripsy to provide a nidus in the liver for direct cell transplantation offers a new approach to overcoming key limitations in current cell therapy.

The interaction of shockwaves with a vapour bubble in boiling histotripsy: The shock scattering effect.

Boiling histotripsy is a High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) technique which uses a number of short pulses with high acoustic pressures at the HIFU focus to induce mechanical tissue fractionation. In boiling histotripsy, two different types of acoustic cavitation contribute towards mechanical tissue destruction: a boiling vapour bubble and cavitation clouds. An understanding of the mechanisms underpinning these phenomena and their dynamics is therefore paramount to predicting and controlling the overall size of a lesion produced for a given boiling histotripsy exposure condition.

Systematic review of the role of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in treating malignant lesions of the hepatobiliary system.

Background: High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is an emerging non-invasive, targeted treatment of malignancy. The aim of this review was to assess the efficacy, safety and optimal technical parameters of HIFU to treat malignant lesions of the hepatobiliary system.

Methods: A systematic search of the English literature was performed until March 2020, interrogating Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases.

The effects of ultrasound pressure and temperature fields in millisecond bubble nucleation.

A phenomenological implementation of Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT) is employed to investigate the connection between high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) pressure and temperature fields with the energetic requirements of bubble nucleation. As a case study, boiling histotripsy in tissue-mimicking phantoms is modelled. The physics of key components in the implementation of CNT in HIFU conditions such as the derivation of nucleation pressure thresholds and approximations regarding the surface tension of the liquid are reviewed and discussed.

Mechanical damage induced by the appearance of rectified bubble growth in a viscoelastic medium during boiling histotripsy exposure.

In boiling histotripsy, the presence of a boiling vapour bubble and understanding of its dynamic behaviour are crucially important for the initiation of the tissue fractionation process and for the control of the size of a lesion produced. Whilst many in vivo studies have shown the feasibility of using boiling histotripsy in mechanical fractionation of solid tumours, not much is known about the evolution of a boiling vapour bubble in soft tissue induced by boiling histotripsy. The main objective of this present study is therefore to investigate the formation and dynamic behaviour of a boiling vapour bubble which occurs under boiling histotripsy insonation.