Insonation frequency selection may assist detection and therapeutic delivery of targeted ultrasound contrast agents

Effects of coupling, bubble size, and spatial arrangement on chaotic dynamics of microbubble cluster in ultrasonic fields

Microbubble clustering may occur when bubbles become bound to targeted surfaces or are grouped by acoustic radiation forces in medical diagnostic applications. The ability to identify the formation of such clusters from the ultrasound echoes may be of practical use. Nonlinear numerical simulations were performed on clusters of microbubbles modeled by the modified Keller-Miksis equations. Encapsulated bubbles were considered to mimic practical applications but the aim of the study was to examine the effects of inter-bubble spacing and bubble size on the dynamical behavior of the cluster and to see if chaotic or bifurcation characteristics could be helpful in diagnostics. It was found that as microbubbles were clustered closer together, their oscillation amplitude for a given applied ultrasound power was reduced, and for inter-bubble spacing smaller than about ten bubble radii nonlinear subharmonics and ultraharmonics were eliminated. For clustered microbubbles, as for isolated microbubbles, an increase in the applied acoustic power caused bifurcations and transition to chaos. The bifurcations preceding chaotic behavior were identified by Floquet analysis and confirmed to be of the period-doubling type. It was found that as the number of microbubbles in a cluster increased, regularization occurred at lower ultrasound power and more windows of order appeared.

Quantitative guidelines for the prediction of ultrasound contrast agent destruction during injection

Experiments and theory were undertaken on the destruction of ultrasound contrast agent microbubbles on needle injection, with the aim of predicting agent loss during in vivo studies. Agents were expelled through a variety of syringe and needle combinations, subjecting the microbubbles to a range of pressure drops. Imaging of the bubbles identified cases where bubbles were destroyed and the extent of destruction. Fluid-dynamic calculations determined the pressure drop for each syringe and needle combination. It was found that agent destruction occurred at a critical pressure drop that depended only on the type of microbubble. Protein-shelled microbubbles (sonicated bovine serum albumin) were virtually all destroyed above their critical pressure drop of 109 ± 7 kPa Two types of lipid-shelled microbubbles were found to have a pressure drop threshold above which more than 50% of the microbubbles were destroyed. The commercial lipid-shelled agent Definity was found to have a critical pressure drop for destruction of 230 ± 10 kPa; for a previously published lipid-shelled agent, this value was 150 ± 40 kPa. It is recommended that attention to the predictions of a simple formula could preclude unnecessary destruction of microbubble contrast agent during in vivo injections. This approach may also preclude undesirable release of drug or gene payloads in targeted microbubble therapies. Example values of appropriate injection rates for various agents and conditions are given.

Phase-shift, stimuli-responsive drug carriers for targeted delivery

The intersection of particles and directed energy is a rich source of novel and useful technology that is only recently being realized for medicine. One of the most promising applications is directed drug delivery. This review focuses on phase-shift nanoparticles (that is, particles of submicron size) as well as micron-scale particles whose action depends on an external-energy triggered, first-order phase shift from a liquid to gas state of either the particle itself or of the surrounding medium. These particles have tremendous potential for actively disrupting their environment for altering transport properties and unloading drugs. This review covers in detail ultrasound and laser-activated phase-shift nano- and micro-particles and their use in drug delivery. Phase-shift based drug-delivery mechanisms and competing technologies are discussed.

Nonlinear dynamic behavior of microscopic bubbles near a rigid wall

The nonlinear dynamic behavior of microscopic bubbles near a rigid wall is investigated. Oscillations are driven by the ultrasonic pressure field that arises in various biomedical applications such as ultrasound imaging or targeted drug delivery. It is known that, when bubbles approach a blood-vessel wall, their linear dynamic response is modified. This modification may be very useful for real-time detection of bubbles that have found targets; in future therapeutic technologies, it may be useful for controlled release of medical agents encapsulating microbubbles. In this paper, the nonlinear response of microbubbles near a wall is studied. The Keller-Miksis-Parlitz equation is adopted, but modified to account for the presence of a rigid wall. This base model describes the time evolution of the bubble surface, which is assumed to remain spherical, and accounts for the effect of acoustic radiation losses owing to liquid compressibility in the momentum conservation. Two situations are considered: the base case of an isolated bubble in an unbounded medium, and a bubble near a rigid wall. In the latter case, the wall influence is modeled by including a symmetrically oscillating image bubble. The bubble dynamics is traced using a numerical solution of the model equation. Subsequently, Floquet theory is used to accurately detect the bifurcation point where bubble oscillations stop following the driving ultrasound frequency and undergo period-changing bifurcations. Of particular interest is the detection of the subcritical period-tripling and -quadrupling transition. The parametric bifurcation maps are obtained as functions of nondimensional parameters representing the bubble radius, the frequency and pressure amplitude of the driving ultrasound field, and the distance from the wall. It is shown that the presence of the wall generally stabilises the bubble dynamics, so that much larger values of the pressure amplitude are needed to generate nonlinear responses. Thus, a clinical protocol in which selected nonlinear harmonics are examined under varying insonation amplitudes may be useful in detecting microbubble proximity to walls.