Currently, most drugs (for example, for chemotherapy) are toxic not only to tumors, but also to the entire human body.
Ultrasound can be used for targeted drug delivery, i.e., only to the target area without affecting the entire body with the drug. For example, nanodroplets of a drug in special shells can be introduced into the bloodstream, in which, when exposing the area containing the tumor with ultrasound, the phenomenon of cavitation (bubble activity) can be initiated and, thus, the drug can be released from the shell only in the tumor area.
The phenomenon of cavitation can also be used for sonoporation, i.e., increasing the permeability of tumor cell membranes to accelerate the entry of the drug into the tumor.
LIMU tasks
- Development of specialized transducers for drug delivery purposes
- Numerical modeling of nonlinear fields of the developed transducers
Activity types
- numerical modeling
- transducer design
Contacts
Details
[1] Drug targeting to tumors: principles, pitfalls and (pre-) clinical progress / T. Lammers, F. Kiessling, W. E. Hennink, G. Storm // J Control Release. 2012. — Vol. 20, no. 161(2). — P. 175-87. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2011.09.063
[2] Dual-mode 1-D linear ultrasound array for image-guided drug delivery enhancement without ultrasound contrast agents / R. P. Williams, M. M. Karzova, P. V. Yuldashev et al. // IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control. — 2023. — Vol. 70, no. 7. — P. 693–707. DOI: 10.1109/tuffc.2023.3268603
[3] Dual-use transducer for ultrasound imaging and pulsed focused ultrasound (pFUS) therapy / M. M. Karzova, P. V. Yuldashev, V. A. Khokhlova et al. // IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control. — 2021. — Vol. 68, no. 9. — P. 2930–2941. DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2021.3070528