Targeted drug delivery system using ultrasound transducers: A numerical study on stenosis artery

Abstract

In the present study, a targeted drug delivery (TDD) system is proposed for enhancing the transfer of drug carriers to the inner wall of carotid artery plaque in case of atherosclerosis disease. First, the incompressible laminar blood flow through a carotid artery that is 50% stenosis is simulated. With the aim of improving drug delivery, external forces of ultrasound (US) waves caused by the disk and focused ultrasound (FUS) transducers with various transducer output power are used. To assess the functionality of each transducer, the surface density of nano/microparticles (SDP) adhered on the atherosclerosis lumen using the ligand-receptor binding is evaluated. Results revealed that the implementation of a disk transducer with 20 W output power for nanoparticles with 200 nm diameter and microparticles with <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$2\ \mu \mathrm{m}$</tex> diameter results in an increase of 43% and 50% in the SDP adhered on the plaque, respectively. This increase is 26% and 38% in the case of utilizing a FUS transducer with 45 W output power. These results indicate the significant influence of using an external US field on enhancing the function of a TDD system.