Intense Therapeutic Ultrasound for Pain Relief in the Treatment for Chronic Plantar Fasciopathy.

Background: Intense therapeutic ultrasound (ITU) is an innovative ultrasound-based therapy where sound waves are concentrated into select musculoskeletal tissue. These focused waves generate thermal coagula at a controlled depth and space while preserving surrounding tissues. A multicenter study was conducted evaluating the efficiency, safety, and patient tolerance of ITU for the treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis (CPF) pain.

Retrospective Analysis of Plantar Fascia by Ultrasound Imaging in Patients with Plantar Fasciitis.

Background: We compared diagnostic ultrasound images of the plantar fascia with available patient histories for symptomatic patients previously diagnosed as having plantar fasciitis. Plantar fascia thickness and depth, the prevalence of perifascial hypoechoic lesions, and injury timelines in patients were reviewed.

Methods: Images and histories for 126 symptomatic patients were collected from a patient database.

Treatment of rabbit liver cancer in vivo using miniaturized image-ablate ultrasound arrays.

In the preclinical studies reported here, VX2 cancer within rabbit liver has been treated by bulk ultrasound ablation employing miniaturized image-ablate arrays. Array probes were constructed with 32 elements in a 2.3 × 20 mm(2) aperture, packaged within a 3.

Intense focused ultrasound: evaluation of a new treatment modality for precise microcoagulation within the skin.

Background And Objective: Focused ultrasound can produce thermal and/or mechanical effects deep within tissue. We investigated the capability of intense focused ultrasound to induce precise and predictable subepidermal thermal damage in human skin.

Materials And Methods: Postmortem human skin samples were exposed to a range of focused ultrasound pulses, using a prototype device (Ulthera Inc.

Selective transcutaneous delivery of energy to porcine soft tissues using Intense Ultrasound (IUS).

Objective: Various energy delivery systems have been utilized to treat superficial rhytids in the aging face. The Intense Ultrasound System (IUS) is a novel modality capable of transcutaneously delivering controlled thermal energy at various depths while sparing the overlying tissues. The purpose of this feasibility study was to evaluate the response of porcine tissues to various IUS energy source conditions.

Clinical pilot study of intense ultrasound therapy to deep dermal facial skin and subcutaneous tissues.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical safety of intense ultrasound in the treatment of the dermis and subcutaneous tissues of the face and neck in terms of skin inflammation, pain, adverse events, and histologic features.

Design: In an open-label, phase 1 study, patients scheduled to undergo a rhytidectomy were enrolled into immediate (face-lift surgery within 24 hours of intense ultrasound treatment) and delayed (face-lift surgery 4-12 weeks after treatment) treatment groups. Intense ultrasound treatments were performed as a series of several linear exposures delivered 1.

Selective creation of thermal injury zones in the superficial musculoaponeurotic system using intense ultrasound therapy: a new target for noninvasive facial rejuvenation.

Objectives: To transcutaneously deliver intense ultrasound (IUS) energy to target the facial superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS), to produce discrete thermal injury zones (TIZs) in the SMAS, and to demonstrate the relative sparing of adjacent nontargeted layers superficial and deep to the SMAS layer.

Methods: In 6 unfixed human cadaveric specimens, the SMAS layer was visualized and targeted using the ultrasound imaging component of the IUS device. Using 2 IUS handpieces, 202 exposure lines were delivered bilaterally in multiple facial regions by varying combinations of power and exposure time (0.

Miniaturized ultrasound arrays for interstitial ablation and imaging.

A potential alternative to extracorporeal, noninvasive HIFU therapy is minimally invasive intense ultrasound ablation that can be performed laparoscopically or percutaneously. An approach to minimally invasive ablation of soft tissue using miniaturized linear ultrasound arrays is presented here. Recently developed 32-element arrays with aperture 2.

Bulk ablation of soft tissue with intense ultrasound: modeling and experiments.

Methods for the bulk ablation of soft tissue using intense ultrasound, with potential applications in the thermal treatment of focal tumors, are presented. An approximate analytic model for bulk ablation predicts the progress of ablation based on tissue properties, spatially averaged ultrasonic heat deposition, and perfusion. The approximate model allows the prediction of threshold acoustic powers required for ablation in vivo as well as the comparison of cases with different starting temperatures and perfusion characteristics, such as typical in vivo and ex vivo experiments.