抄録
Ultrasound has been in use for diagnostic imaging and therapy in medicine for half a century. Recently, there have been numerous reports on the application of thermal and nonthermal ultrasound energy for treating various diseases of the brain. In addition to thermal ablation of brain tumors, non-thermal ultrasound combined with drugs has shown considerable promise, especially for treatment of vascular diseases of the brain and regenerative medicine. Ultrasound energy can enhance the effects of thrombolytic agents such as urokinase for treatment of stroke. Therapeutic ultrasound catheters are currently being developed. Non-invasive methods such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in conjunction with MRI and CT are already being applied in the clinical field. Chemical activation of drugs by ultrasound energy for treatment of tumors is another new field recently termed “sonodynamic therapy”. Combination of genes with microbubbles has given rise to great hopes that it can be applied to gene therapy for the brain. Various examples of ultrasound combined modalities are under investigation, and could lead to revolutionary methods of brain therapy.
