Abstract
Ultrasound imaging and ultrasound therapy using high intensity focused ultrasound are applied in clinic. Ultrasound is a promising candidate for developing theranostics system because of its safety, non-invasiveness, relatively cheap equipment and imaging in real time. Ultrasound contrast agents (Microbubble) have been developed to visualize tissues clearly. Recently, the combination of microbubbles and ultrasound is not only applied for imaging but also therapy like enhanced drug delivery. Ultrasound can induce microbubble oscillation, stable cavitation and inertial cavitation depending on the ultrasound intensity. These phenomena are used for imaging and therapy. Although several microbubbles have been developed in the world and applied for ultrasound diagnostics, it is not approved for therapy. Therefore, in order to establish ultrasound theranostics, we have tried to develop novel bubbles which are suitable for diagnostics and therapeutics. In this review, we describe our studies and introduce recent studies for establishing ultrasound theranostics.
