激光协同聚焦超声辐照生物样品增强热效应的实验和理论研究

对中等强度聚焦超声在生物样品中产生的热效应以及激光协同超声增强热效应进行了实验和理论研究。实验上,对生物和仿生样品在超声作用和激光协同超声作用下加热情况进行测量,通过对比表明,激光协同超声作用于生物样品,引起空化效应以及温度升高更为明显。同时,理论上对聚焦超声在生物样品中衰减产生的热效应、超声空化以及激光协同超声增强空化及其产生热效应进行机理分析。通过对机理的分析表明,激光引起的光致核化使超声空化更易于产生,有效的增强空化效应,进而增强热效应。为对具体实验给出量化分析和估算,通过理论与实验结果相拟合,对超声传播引起的温度升高进行计算,并估算超声和激光协同超声产生空化微泡对加热效应的不同贡献,为空化效应在超声治疗中的贡献提供参考数据。      

Laser-enhanced thermal effect of moderate intensity focused ultrasound on bio-tissues

For avoiding extra-damage to healthy tissues surrounding the focal point during high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment in medical therapy, to reduce the ultrasonic intensity outside the focal point is expected. Thus, the heating processes induced by moderate intensity focused ultrasound (MIFU) and enhanced by combined irradiation of laser pulses for bio-tissues are studied in details. For fresh bio-tissues, the enhanced thermal effects by pulsed laser combined with MIFU irradiation are observed experimentally. To explore the mechanisms of these effects, several tissue-mimicking materials composed of agar mixed with graphite powders are prepared and studied for comparison, but the laser-enhanced thermal effects in these mimicking materials are much less than that in the fresh bio-tissues. Therefore, it is suggested that the laser-enhanced thermal effects may be mainly attributed to bio-activities and related photo-bio-chemical effects of fresh tissues.     

声光协同作用下金纳米颗粒表面空化泡的动力学研究

在激光和超声的协同作用下,金纳米颗粒表面会产生空化气泡。本文通过观察各种参数条件下空化泡的振荡变化,研究了激光光热、超声空化及其协同效应。研究发现,光热作用和激励声压的改变可以调节气泡的动力学过程,光热效应的增强有利于气泡的膨胀,激励声压的增加可以提高气泡运动的剧烈程度。两者的协同作用可以使气泡稳定存在并经历不同的振荡过程。此外,激光与超声协同方式的变化对气泡的运动过程有一定影响。      

Dynamical process of cavitation bubble adsorbed in gold nanoparticle under combined irradiations of laser and ultrasound

Under combined irradiation of laser and ultrasound,cavitary bubbles are generated on the surface of gold nanoparticle.The laser-induced thermal effect,ultrasonic cavitation effect and the synergistic effect of laser and ultrasound are studied by means of the investigation of the dynamical process for the vibration of the cavitation bubble,with different external conditions such as laser power,ultrasound intensity,etc.It is found that dynamical process of the cavitation bubble can be modified by the irradiation of laser or ultrasound.The enhancement of laser power can increase the critical radius of the cavitation bubble,while that of ultrasound may intensify the vibration.Cavitation bubble may become more stable due to the synergistic effect of laser and ultrasound.It is also found that variation of the coupling between laser and ultrasound can affect synergistic effect.     

Enhancement of heat transfer in forced convection by using dual low-high frequency ultrasound

Combined sonication with dual-frequency ultrasound has been investigated to enhance heat transfer in forced convection. The test section used for this study consists of a channel with, on one hand, heating blocks normal to the water flow, equipped with thermocouples, and, on the other hand, two ultrasonic emitters. One is facing the heating blocks, thus the ultrasonic field is perpendicular, and the second ultrasonic field is collinear to the water flow. Two types of ultrasonic waves were used: low-frequency ultrasound (25 kHz) to generate mainly acoustic cavitation and high-frequency ultrasound (2 MHz) well-known to induce Eckart’s acoustic streaming. A thermal approach was conducted to investigate heat transfer enhancement in the presence of ultrasound. This approach was completed with PIV measurements to assess the hydrodynamic behavior modifications under ultrasound. Sonochemiluminescence experiments were performed to account for the presence and the location of acoustic cavitation within the water flow. The results have shown a synergetic effect using combined low-and-high-frequency sonication. Enhancement of heat transfer is related to greater induced turbulence within the water flow by comparison with single-frequency sonication. However, the ultrasonically-induced turbulence is not homogeneously distributed within the water flow and the synergy effect on heat transfer enhancement depends mainly on the generation of turbulence along the heating wall. For the optimal configuration of dual-frequency sonication used in this work, a local heat transfer enhancement factor up to 366% was observed and Turbulent Kinetic Energy was enhanced by up to 84% when compared to silent regime.     

Effects of nonlinear propagation, cavitation, and boiling in lesion formation by high intensity focused ultrasound in a gel phantom

The importance of nonlinear acoustic wave propagation and ultrasound-induced cavitation in the acceleration of thermal lesion production by high intensity focused ultrasound was investigated experimentally and theoretically in a transparent protein-containing gel. A numerical model that accounted for nonlinear acoustic propagation was used to simulate experimental conditions. Various exposure regimes with equal total ultrasound energy but variable peak acoustic pressure were studied for single lesions and lesion stripes obtained by moving the transducer. Static overpressure was applied to suppress cavitation. Strong enhancement of lesion production was observed for high amplitude waves and was supported by modeling. Through overpressure experiments it was shown that both nonlinear propagation and cavitation mechanisms participate in accelerating lesion inception and growth. Using B-mode ultrasound, cavitation was observed at normal ambient pressure as weakly enhanced echogenicity in the focal region, but was not detected with overpressure. Formation of tadpole-shaped lesions, shifted toward the transducer, was always observed to be due to boiling. Boiling bubbles were visible in the gel and were evident as strongly echogenic regions in B-mode images. These experiments indicate that nonlinear propagation and cavitation accelerate heating, but no lesion displacement or distortion was observed in the absence of boiling.     

激光加热效应在硅显微Raman光谱测量中的影响

本文从理论和实验两方面研究了显微Raman光谱测量中,激光功率对单晶硅样品测量的影响。由于显微Raman光谱仪对激光的聚焦作用,使得激光对不同厚度的样品具有微区加热作用,被测样品产生不同程度的温升,从而对显微Raman光谱仪在硅材料应力和温度的测量中产生影响。实验结果证明,对无限厚硅样品,20mW的激光使Raman频移达到0.15cm-1;而对2μm厚的热薄硅样品,26mW的激光使Raman频移达到4.47cm-1。     

Prediction of vascular injury by cavitation microbubbles in a focused ultrasound field

Many studies have shown that microbubble cavitation is one mechanism for vascular injury under ultrasonic excitation. Previous work has attributed vascular damage to vessel expansions and invaginations due to the expansion and contraction of microbubbles. However, the mechanisms of vascular damage are not fully understood. In this paper, we investigate, theoretically and experimentally, the vessel injury due to stress induced by ultrasound-induced cavitation (UIC). A bubble-fluid-vessel coupling model is constructed to investigate the interactions of the coupling system. The dynamics process of vessel damage due to UIC is theoretically simulated with a finite element method, and a focused ultrasound (FU) setup is carried out and used to assess the vessel damage. The results show that shear stress contributes to vessel injury by cell detachment while normal stress mainly causes distention injury. Similar changes in cell detachment in a vessel over time can be observed with the experimental setup. The severity of vascular injury is correlated to acoustic parameters, bubble-wall distance, and microbubble sizes, and the duration of insonation..     

Bubble dynamics and size distributions during focused ultrasound insonation

The deposition of ultrasonic energy in tissue can cause tissue damage due to local heating. For pressures above a critical threshold, cavitation will occur, inducing a much larger thermal energy deposition in a local region. The present work develops a nonlinear bubble dynamics model to numerically investigate bubble oscillations and bubble-enhanced heating during focused ultrasound (HIFU) insonation. The model is applied to calculate two threshold-dependent phenomena occurring for nonlinearly oscillating bubbles: Shape instability and growth by rectified diffusion. These instabilities in turn are shown to place physical boundaries on the time-dependent bubble size distribution, and thus the thermal energy deposition.     

超声空化引起界面湍动促进的传质机理

本文分析了超声空化引起界面湍动对传质过程的影响,提出了相界面上超声空化气泡析出增强边界层液体湍动并促进传质的机理,在传质理论和流体动力学原理的基础上,建立了超声空化引起界面湍动促进的传质机理模型,获得了超声空化引起界面湍动促进的传质系数表达式。实验结果验证了模型的合理性。该模型既证实了超声对传质有强化效应,又对传质过程有很好的预测功能,为工业化提供了理论依据。     

The effect of temperature and viscoelasticity on cavitation dynamics during ultrasonic ablation

Inertial cavitation has been shown to enhance heating rates during high intensity focused ultrasound treatments. Cavitation dynamics will be affected by heating and by the changes in mechanical properties of tissue resultant from thermal denaturation; however, the nature of the change is not known and forms the focus of the current study. A Keller-Miksis equation is used to find the variation in inertial cavitation threshold with temperature in water and, when coupled with a Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic model, in biological tissue. Simulated thermal ablation treatments in liver and muscle are used to explore the changes in cavitation dynamics, and the resultant frequency spectra of secondary acoustic emissions, due to tissue denaturation. Results indicate that viscosity is the key parameter controlling cavitation dynamics in biological tissues. The increase in viscosity during denaturation is predicted to increase inertial cavitation thresholds, leading to a substantial decrease in the higher harmonic content of the emitted pressure signal across a wide range of bubble radii. Experimental validation of these observations could offer improved methods to monitor therapeutic ultrasound treatments.     

Enhancement of ultrasonic cavitation yield by multi-frequency sonication

The paper reports the enhanced effect of multi-frequency ultrasonic irradiation on cavitation yield. The cavitation yield is characterized by electrical conductivity determination, fluorescence intensity determination and iodine release method. Two-frequency (28 kHz/0.87 MHz) orthogonal continuous ultrasound, two-frequency (28 kHz/0.87 MHz) orthogonal pulse ultrasound and three-frequency (28 kHz/1.0 MHz/1.87 MHz) orthogonal continuous ultrasound have been used. It has been found that the combined irradiation of two or more frequencies of ultrasound can produce a significant increase in cavitation yield compared with single frequency irradiation. The possible mechanisms of the enhanced effect are briefly discussed.     

Controlled tissue emulsification produced by high intensity focused ultrasound shock waves and millisecond boiling

In high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) applications, tissue may be thermally necrosed by heating, emulsified by cavitation, or, as was recently discovered, emulsified using repetitive millisecond boiling caused by shock wave heating. Here, this last approach was further investigated. Experiments were performed in transparent gels and ex vivo bovine heart tissue using 1, 2, and 3 MHz focused transducers and different pulsing schemes in which the pressure, duty factor, and pulse duration were varied. A previously developed derating procedure to determine in situ shock amplitudes and the time-to-boil was refined. Treatments were monitored using B-mode ultrasound. Both inertial cavitation and boiling were observed during exposures, but emulsification occurred only when shocks and boiling were present. Emulsified lesions without thermal denaturation were produced with shock amplitudes sufficient to induce boiling in less than 20 ms, duty factors of less than 0.02, and pulse lengths shorter than 30 ms. Higher duty factors or longer pulses produced varying degrees of thermal denaturation combined with mechanical emulsification. Larger lesions were obtained using lower ultrasound frequencies. The results show that shock wave heating and millisecond boiling is an effective and reliable way to emulsify tissue while monitoring the treatment with ultrasound.     

Ultrasound measurements of cavitation bubble radius for femtosecond laser-induced breakdown in water

A recently developed ultrasound technique is evaluated by measuring the behavior of a cavitation bubble that is induced in water by a femtosecond laser pulse. The passive acoustic emission during optical breakdown is used to estimate the location of the cavitation bubble's origin. In turn, the position of the bubble wall is defined based on the active ultrasonic pulse-echo signal. The results suggest that the developed ultrasound technique can be used for quantitative measurements of femtosecond laser-induced microbubbles.     

Impact of cavitation on lesion formation induced by high intensity focused ultrasound

High intensity focused ultrasound(HIFU) has shown a great promise in noninvasive cancer therapy. The impact of acoustic cavitation on the lesion formation induced by HIFU is investigated both experimentally and theoretically in transparent protein-containing gel and ex vivo liver tissue samples. A numerical model that accounts for nonlinear acoustic propagation and heat transfer is used to simulate the lesion formation induced by the thermal effect. The results showed that lesions could be induced in the samples exposed to HIFU with various acoustic pressures and pulse lengths. The measured areas of lesions formed in the lateral direction were comparable to the simulated results, while much larger discrepancy was observed between the experimental and simulated data for the areas of longitudinal lesion cross-section. Meanwhile,a series of stripe-wiped-off B-mode pictures were obtained by using a special imaging processing method so that HIFUinduced cavitation bubble activities could be monitored in real-time and quantitatively analyzed as the functions of acoustic pressure and pulse length. The results indicated that, unlike the lateral area of HIFU-induced lesion that was less affected by the cavitation activity, the longitudinal cross-section of HIFU-induced lesion was significantly influenced by the generation of cavitation bubbles through the temperature elevation resulting from HIFU exposures. Therefore, considering the clinical safety in HIFU treatments, more attention should be paid on the lesion formation in the longitudinal direction to avoid uncontrollable variation resulting from HIFU-induced cavitation activity.     

Comparison of energy consumptions between ultrasonic, mechanical, and combined soil washing processes

Vigorous physical effects including micro-jet and micro-streaming can be induced in heterogeneous systems by acoustic cavitation. This can be useful for the removal of pollutants from contaminated soil particles. In this study, the diesel removal efficiencies in ultrasonic, mechanical, and combined soil washing processes have been compared considering the electrical energy consumptions for these processes. The combined process showed synergistic effects for both removal efficiency and effective volume also has the advantage of a short operation time compared to the sequential processes. Thus the ultrasonic soil washing process with mechanical mixing is considered a promising technology for industrial use.     

Feasibility of using Nakagami distribution in evaluating the formation of ultrasound-induced thermal lesions

The acoustic posterior shadowing effects of bubbles influence the accuracy for defining the location and range of ablated thermal lesions during focused ultrasound surgery when using ultrasonic monitoring imaging. This paper explored the feasibility of using Nakagami distribution to evaluate the ablated region induced by focused ultrasound exposures at different acoustic power levels in transparent tissue-mimicking phantoms. The mean value of the Nakagami parameter m was about 0.5 in the cavitation region and increased to around 1 in the ablated region. Nakagami images were not subject to significant shadowing effects of bubbles. Ultrasound-induced thermal lesions observed in the photos and Nakagami images were overshadowed by bubbles in the B-mode images. The lesion size predicted in the Nakagami images was smaller than that predicted in the photos due to the sub resolvable effect of Nakagami imaging at the interface. This preliminary study on tissue-mimicking phantom suggested that the Nakagami parameter m may have the potential use in evaluating the formation of ultrasound-induced thermal lesion when the shadowing effect of bubbles is strong while the thermal lesion was small. Further studies in vivo and in vitro will be needed to evaluate the potential application.     

Towards an understanding and control of cavitation activity in 1 MHz ultrasound fields

Various industrial processes such as sonochemical processing and ultrasonic cleaning strongly rely on the phenomenon of acoustic cavitation. As the occurrence of acoustic cavitation is incorporating a multitude of interdependent effects, the amount of cavitation activity in a vessel is strongly depending on the ultrasonic process conditions. It is therefore crucial to quantify cavitation activity as a function of the process parameters. At 1 MHz, the active cavitation bubbles are so small that it is becoming difficult to observe them in a direct way. Hence, another metrology based on secondary effects of acoustic cavitation is more suitable to study cavitation activity. In this paper we present a detailed analysis of acoustic cavitation phenomena at 1 MHz ultrasound by means of time-resolved measurements of sonoluminescence, cavitation noise, and synchronized high-speed stroboscopic Schlieren imaging. It is shown that a correlation exists between sonoluminescence, and the ultraharmonic and broadband signals extracted from the cavitation noise spectra. The signals can be utilized to characterize different regimes of cavitation activity at different acoustic power densities. When cavitation activity sets on, the aforementioned signals correlate to fluctuations in the Schlieren contrast as well as the number of nucleated bubbles extracted from the Schlieren Images. This additionally proves that signals extracted from cavitation noise spectra truly represent a measure for cavitation activity. The cyclic behavior of cavitation activity is investigated and related to the evolution of the bubble populations in the ultrasonic tank. It is shown that cavitation activity is strongly linked to the occurrence of fast-moving bubbles. The origin of this “bubble streamers” is investigated and their role in the initialization and propagation of cavitation activity throughout the sonicated liquid is discussed. Finally, it is shown that bubble activity can be stabilized and enhanced by the use of pulsed ultrasound by conserving and recycling active bubbles between subsequent pulsing cycles.     

Enhancement of ultraweak photon emission with 3 MHz ultrasonic irradiation on transplanted tumor tissues of mice

We investigated photon emissions of various bio-samples which were induced by ultrasonic stimulation. It has been reported that ultrasonic stimulations induced the thermal excitation of the bio-tissues. After ultrasonic stimulation, any measurement of photon radiation in the visible spectral range has not been carried out yet. The instruments consisted of electronic devices for an ultrasonic generator of the frequency 3 MHz and a photomultiplier tube (PMT) system counting photons from bio-tissues. The transplanted tumor tissues of mice were prepared for the experiments and their liver and spleen tissues were also used for the controls. It was found that the continuous ultrasonic stimulations with the electrical power 2300 mW induced ultraweak photon emissions from the tumor tissues. The number of induced photon was dependent of the type of the tissues and the stimulation time intervals. The level of photon emission was increased from the mouse tumor exposed to the ultrasonic stimulations, and the changes were discriminated from those of the spleens and livers.     

Ultrasonic treatment of aramid fiber surface and its effect on the interface of aramid/epoxy composites

Aramid fiber/epoxy composites have been treated by ultrasound during the winding process to enhance the adhesion. According to the ultrasonic treatment interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of composites has been greatly improved. Dynamic wetting method, XPS and AFM are used to examine the microscopic properties of resultant composites. The enhanced ILSS is attributed to the ultrasonic cavitation, which improves the wetting between aramid fibers and resins.