ABSTRACT
Lipid coated microbubbles and nanodroplets represent a new platform for biomedical nanotechnology. Ultrasound imaging can detect a single microbubble making this one of the most sensitive imaging techniques in medicine. One of the applications of lipid coated microbubbles is as ultrasound contrast agents. Ultrasound is one of the most common biomedical diagnostic examinations. Ultrasound imaging, unlike ionizing radiation, used in X-ray imaging is non-invasive and does not appear to cause bioeffects when ultrasound is performed using levels of energy as proscribed for diagnostic imaging. Microbubbles, in addition to their applications as ultrasound contrast agents, can be used as therapeutic agents. They lower the thresh-hold of energy necessary for cavitation with ultrasound. Ultrasound was applied across the intact chest guided with diagnostic imaging ultrasound to apply bursts of higher energy ultrasound. The higher energy ultrasound was applied intermittently allowing time for replenishment of fresh bubbles.
