Published in MPW, 4 Feb 2014
Histotripsy, a technique in which ultrasound is used to non-invasively remove tissue, was invented about a decade ago. Now, the pioneers of histotripsy have shown that the degree of ablation depends on a tissue’s mechanical properties. The discovery suggests that histotripsy could be used to selectively remove problem tissue around difficult areas, such as major blood vessels (Phys. Med. Biol. 59 253).
The pioneers of histotripsy, Charles Cain and colleagues at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, believe that the technique works because pulses of ultrasound in tissue cause rapid cycles of compression and expansion, which in turn form microbubbles. They believe that these microbubbles then collapse, generating bursts of energy that break up the tissue and destroy cells. […]
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