Enhancing ablation effects of a microbubble contrast agent on high-intensity focused ultrasound: an experimental and clinical study.

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To investigate the relationship between SonoVue ablation enhancement effects on high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and the concentration of SonoVue and timing of HIFU. Two randomisedcontrolledtrials. Ananimal centre in a university and a gynaecological department in a university hospital in China. 63 rabbits and 143 patients with a solitary uterine fibroid. Among the 63 rabbits, three were assigned to the control group. The other 60were evenly assigned to three study groups pretreated with 0.03, 0.05 or 0.07ml/kg of SonoVue before HIFU treatment. Two points in each liver were selected to be treated with HIFU and sonication started at 10, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 250 or 300seconds after the administration of SonoVue, respectively. The 143 patients with solitary uterine fibroids were assigned to four groups: 30 patients were treated using only HIFU; the other patients were pretreated with same dosage of SonoVue and 32, 38 and 43 were treated with HIFU at 1-, 3-, and 5-minutes after administration of SonoVue, respectively. The relation between SonoVue ablation enhancement effects on HIFU and the concentration of SonoVue and timing of HIFU. In the experimental study, the highest temperature and the largest necrotic volume in the liver were observed when HIFU sonication started at 60seconds after administration of SonoVue. In the clinical study, the rate of significant grey-scale changes in the 1-minute SonoVue group was significantly greater than in the other three groups. The sonication time to reach massive grey-scale changes measured in the 1-minute SonoVue group was significantly shorter than in in the other three groups. The sonication time for ablating 1cm3 of fibroid volume in the 1-minute SonoVue group was significantly shorter than in the other three groups. The acoustic energy used in treating 1mm3 of uterine fibroid in the 1-minute SonoVue group was significantly less than that used in the other three groups. No major complications occurred in this study. SonoVue could safely be used to enhance the ablation effects of HIFU treatment, and the optimal time to begin HIFU sonication seems to be 1minute after the administration of SonoVue. SonoVue, a microbubble contrast agent, enhanced the ablation effects of HIFU treatment; the optimal time to begin HIFU sonication appears to be 1minute after the administration of SonoVue.