Develop nano-bubbles for molecular imaging and therapy

• Main Author: Lim, Hui Ying
• Other Authors: Zhou Yufeng
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73089
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

High–intensity focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is a medical procedure that involves treatment of tumors among patients. The use of this approach requires heating and destroying disease tissue through thermal cogitative necrosis (Allan, 2011). Extensive research has revealed that unlike radiation therapy, HIFU does not cause thermal damage to the surrounding tissues, hence is more preferred by a good number of cancer patients (Focused Ultrasound Foundation, 2013). Despite being more efficient, research has shown that the process takes place over a more extended period, thus increasing treatment costs. Current attempts in Acoustic Droplet Vaporization (ADV) aims to design extravascular ultrasound agents, researchers have been able to develop a stabilized, lipid-encapsulated Nano-droplet from decafluorobutane (DFB) which is a highly volatile compound. There is reliable evidence that microbubbles can accelerate ultrasounds-mediated heating thus enhancing formation of lesions. Researchers have observed that the presence of acoustically driven microbubbles results to an increase in heating rate and overall temperature during HIFU (International Symposium of the Therapeutic Ultrasound, 2002). The presence of the bubbles during sonication further results to formation of more massive lesions with shorter exposure time which consequently increases the efficiency of HIFU cancer therapy. As a way of making the approach clinically acceptable, a lot of studies are being conducted to assess the feasibility of using ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) to serve bubbles for enhancing HIFU-induced heating. As a less expensive and highly sensitive imaging techniques, researchers have also been able to develop microbubbles to be used in diagnosing ultrasound imaging. Since its development, micro-bubble enhanced diagnostic ultrasound has received high approval from some medical bodies, including FDA and has also been recommended for use in the study of wall motion abnormalities. Additionally, microbubbles are being used for therapeutic interventions (Suri, 2008). This report illustrates the nano-bubble generation protocol via Acoustic Droplet Vaporization (ADV) with ambient air. Microbubble Condensation approach was investigated in this study.