title: Accounting for the stability of microbubbles to multi-pulse excitation using a lipid-shedding model.
abstract: Interest in microbubble ultrasound contrast agents as therapeutic and quantitative imaging tools has increased the need for accurate modeling of their behavior. Experiments have shown that some bubbles shrink significantly over the course of a single pulse but that the bubbles may eventually reach a stable size after many insonations. Here, it is shown from dimensional arguments that diffusion phenomena are negligible on the time scales that characterize a typical ultrasound pulse. Subsequently, a new model describing both a lipid-shedding mechanism and a nonlinear surface viscosity is developed and shown to provide a more accurate description of the observed experimental behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University College London, London, United Kingdom. jpobrien@math.ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ovenden
authors.forename: Eleanor
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stride
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D004058:Diffusion; D016014:Linear Models; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D045423:Microbubbles; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D011312:Pressure; D013499:Surface Properties; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D014465:Ultrasonics / Q000379:methods*; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D008055:Lipids; D013501:Surface-Active Agents