Thresholds for ultrasonically induced lung hemorrhage in neonatal swine.

The threshold for generation of lung hemorrhage in adult mice by pulsed ultrasound has been shown to be approximately 1 MPa at the surface of the lung (10-microseconds pulse and a carrier frequency of 2 MHz). This investigation used neonatal swine to determine if the findings for mice can be generalized to other species. After exploratory observations, the inverse sampling method was used in a primary study (22 animals, 88 exposure sites) to determine the threshold for lung hemorrhage in neonatal swine. The primary study was followed by a separate confirmation study (13 animals, 48 exposure sites), testing the conclusions of the first study and comparing damage at subthreshold levels with sham-exposed animals. A separate investigation explored the histological nature of tissue damage at suprathreshold levels. A 2.3-MHz focused transducer (10 microseconds at 100-Hz pulse-repetition frequency) was incremented vertically for a distance of 2 cm over the chest of the subject for a total exposure period of 16 min. Animals were euthanized and lungs were scored by visual inspection for numbers and areas of gross hemorrhages. The threshold level for hemorrhage was approximately 1.5 MPa peak positive pressure in water at the surface of the animal or, at the surface of the lung, 1.1 MPa peak positive pressure, 1 MPa fundamental pressure, 0.9 MPa maximum negative pressure, 25 W cm-2 pulse average intensity or a mechanical index of 0.6. These values are essentially the same as those reported for adult mice.