A Study of Ultrasound Therapy by Force Field Control Using Acoustic Holography

Abstract

The formation of a force field in the living body can be useful for medical treatments. For example, when we apply mechanical stimuli to cultured osteoblasts at a low frequency such as 12.5 Hz, the cell proliferation becomes promoted. On the basis of the evidence, mechanical stimuli are expected to promote the healing of fracture. There is acoustic holography as a means of forming a force field noninvasively in the living body. Acoustic holography is a technique of forming an arbitrary-shaped force field in a space by the phase control of waves from each ultrasound transducer. In this study, we simulated sound pressure distribution when we used the device which uses acoustic holography and then checked intensity and size of stimuli. As a result, we confirmed the device can give so large stimuli that affect the living body. Furthermore, we confirmed spatial resolution of the device is smaller than ones of existing devices.