title: Effect of microbubble-enhanced ultrasound on percutaneous ethanol ablation of rat walker-256 tumour.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Percutaneous ethanol ablation (PEA) is an effective method for treating small liver cancer. Microbubble-enhanced ultrasound (MEUS) can potentially promote PEA by disrupting the tumour's circulation. In this study, treatment combining MEUS and PEA was performed to find any synergistic effects in tumour ablation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten rats bearing subcutaneous Walker-256 tumours were treated by MEUS combined with PEA. The other 18 tumour-bearing rats that were treated by MEUS or PEA served as the controls. MEUS was conducted by therapeutic ultrasound (TUS) and microbubble injection. TUS was operated at a frequency of 831 KHz with a pressure amplitude of 4.3 MPa. Tumour blood perfusion was assessed by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and the tumour necrosis rate was determined by histological examination.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CEUS showed that the tumour blood perfusion almost vanished in all of the MEUS-treated tumours. The contrast peak intensity dropped 84.8 % in the MEUS + PEA-treated tumours when compared to 46.3 % (p < 0.05) in the PEA-treated tumours 24 h after treatment. The tumour necrosis rate of the combination therapy was 97.50 %, which is much higher than that of the MEUS- (66.2 %) and PEA-treated (81.0 %) tumours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PEA combined with MEUS can induce a much more complete tumour necrosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • This experiment demonstrated a novel method for enhancing percutaneous ethanol ablation. • Microbubble-enhanced therapeutic ultrasound is capable of disrupting tumour circulation. • Combined therapy of MEUS and PEA can induce more complete necrosis of tumours.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Xinqiao Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Wenhong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Xinqiao Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, 302 Military Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuejuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Xinqiao Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Acoustics, Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Acoustics, Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics, Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Department of Ultrasound, Xinqiao Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China. liuzhengs@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002279:Carcinoma 256, Walker / Q000628:therapy*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003287:Contrast Media; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D019220:High-Energy Shock Waves / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D057086:High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D045423:Microbubbles / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015911:Sclerotherapy / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound; Microbubble-enhanced ultrasound; Necrosis rate; Percutaneous ethanol ablation; Walker-256 tumour