More than Baby Debuts: Ultrasound Is Used to Deliver Drugs, Treat Tremors

First used to sniff out submarines, technology expands biomedical acoustic uses.

Ultrasound is probably most associated with a parent’s first glimpse of a baby in the womb. However, a new video from the Acoustical Society of America showcases the technology’s abilities to do more than just show images of our insides.

This video is the second in a series celebrating the International Year of Sound.

Research into the medical uses of ultrasound uncovered its ability to be used as a precision scalpel, to destroy tumor and cancer cells, and to treat brain diseases and numerous other conditions. Biomedical acoustic scientists are using ultrasound to deliver medicine to specific areas in the body, increasing the effectiveness of the drugs and reducing the impact on healthy cells.

Because it is noninvasive in most cases, patients who undergo medical procedures that use ultrasound can recover more quickly from those procedures. Ultrasound is also used during surgical procedures to inform medical personnel about what is happening inside the body.

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound therapies are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of uterine fibroids and essential tremors, to alleviate pain from bone metastases, and for the ablation of prostate tissue. Numerous clinical trials are underway with the goal expanding the number of approved treatments.

According to the National Institutes of Health, ultrasound is also being investigated to close wounds and stop bleeding, break up clots in blood vessels, and temporarily open the blood brain barrier so that medications can pass through.

Fun Facts About Ultrasound:

• First technological use in 1917 as an attempt to locate submarines
• Accidentally killed fish during World War II when high intensity waves were used as sonar systems
• Used for medical purposes since the 1940s
• Clinical use requires sound waves between 800 kHz and 10 MHz (800,000 Hz to 10,000,000 Hz)
• Ultrasound imaging is amongst the cheapest and most portable approach to medical imaging
• Gel applied to the skin prevents air pockets from forming between the transducer and the skin
• Diagnostic ultrasound images can be 2D, 3D or 3D in motion
• Therapeutic ultrasound is being developed not just for treating humans but also for treating animals

To learn more about ultrasound and the field of biomedical acoustics, visit https://exploresound.org/2020/04/biomedical-acoustics/.

About the Acoustical Society of America:
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year.