Generating Bubbles, Diagnosing by Bubbles, and Treating with Bubbles: From Generation of Ultrasonic Contrast Agent to Its Medical Application (3): Active Control of Microbubbles in Blood Vessel by Using Ultrasound

Abstract

For the therapeutic application of microbubbles, which are originally developed for ultrasound vascular diagnosis, we are developing the technique to control microbubbles in blood flow by making use of acoustic radiation force. In this research we have newly developed the two-dimensional transducer with 64 ultrasound elements to form three-dimensional acoustic field with time variation according to the vessel shape and flow direction. We have succeeded to trap and induce microbubbles in flow using various types of artificial blood vessel.