High-intensity focused ultrasound therapy: an overview for radiologists.
High-intensity focused ultrasound therapy is a novel, emerging, therapeutic modality that uses ultrasound waves, propagated through tissue media, as carriers of energy. This completely non-invasive technology has great potential for tumor ablation as well as hemostasis, thrombolysis and targeted drug/gene delivery. However, the application of this technology still has many drawbacks. It is expected that current obstacles to implementation will be resolved in the near future. In this review, we provide an overview of high-intensity focused ultrasound therapy from the basic physics to recent clinical studies with an interventional radiologist's perspective for the purpose of improving the general understanding of this cutting-edge technology as well as speculating on future developments.
Kim
Young-sun
YS
Department of Radiology and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Rhim
Hyunchul
H
Choi
Min Joo
MJ
Lim
Hyo Keun
HK
Choi
Dongil
D
D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D018390:Gene Targeting; D006489:Hemostatic Techniques; D006801:Humans; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000379:methods; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy / Q000379:methods