title: The potential utility of high-intensity ultrasound to treat osteoarthritis.
abstract: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a widespread musculoskeletal disease that reduces quality of life and for which there is no cure. The treatment of OA is challenging since cartilage impedes the local and systemic delivery of therapeutic compounds (TCs). This review identifies high-intensity ultrasound (HIU) as a non-contact technique to modify articular cartilage and subchondral bone. HIU enables new approaches to overcome challenges associated with drug delivery to cartilage and new non-invasive approaches for the treatment of joint disease. Specifically, HIU has the potential to facilitate targeted drug delivery and release deep within cartilage, to repair soft tissue damage, and to physically alter tissue structures including cartilage and bone. The localized, non-invasive ultrasonic delivery of TCs to articular cartilage and subchondral bone appears to be a promising technique in the immediate future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: heikki.nieminen@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: ari.salmi@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salmi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: pasi.karppinen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Karppinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: edward.haeggstrom@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hæggström
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address: ahacking@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hacking
mesh_terms: D002358:Cartilage, Articular; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000628:therapy*; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Bone; Cartilage; Drug delivery; Orthopedic surgery; Osteoarthritis; Ultrasound