Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion IIT, Haifa, Israel.
Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2012 Sep;13(11):2104-16. doi: 10.2174/138920112802502033.
Medical applications of ultrasound were first investigated about seventy years ago. It has rapidly evolved since then, becoming an essential tool in medical imaging. Ultrasound ability to provide real time images with frame rates exceeding several hundred frames per second allows one to view rapid anatomical changes as well as to guide minimal invasive procedures. By, combining Doppler techniques with anatomical images ultrasound provides real time quantitative flow information as well. It is portable, versatile, cost effective and considered sufficiently hazardless to monitor pregnancy. Moreover, ultrasound has the unique capacity to offer therapeutic capabilities in addition to its outstanding imaging abilities. It can be used for physiotherapy, lithotripsy, and thermal ablation, and recent studies have demonstrated its usefulness in drug delivery, gene therapy and molecular imaging. The purpose of this article is to provide an introductory review of the field covering briefly topics from basic physics through current imaging methods to therapeutic applications.
大约七十年前，人们首次开始研究超声在医学领域的应用。从那时起，它迅速发展，成为医学成像的重要工具。超声能够以每秒超过几百帧的帧率提供实时图像，使人们能够观察快速的解剖结构变化，并指导微创程序。通过将多普勒技术与解剖图像相结合，超声还可以提供实时定量的血流信息。它便携、多功能、具有成本效益，并且被认为足够安全，可以用于监测妊娠。此外，超声除了出色的成像能力外，还具有独特的治疗能力。它可用于物理治疗、碎石术和热消融，最近的研究表明它在药物输送、基因治疗和分子成像方面也有应用。本文的目的是对该领域进行介绍性综述，简要涵盖从基础物理学到当前成像方法再到治疗应用的各个方面。
