Education - Lecture/Discussion - WPI Only
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
1:00 PM-2:00 PM
Higgins Laboratories
Room 116
Ronald A. Roy
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Boston University
Abstract:
It is well known that ultrasound has found a home in medicine. Scattered ultrasound waves provide a means for imaging organs, blood flow, and tissue structure. High intensity ultrasound can remotely ablate tissue volumes as small as a grain of rice. What is not well known is microscopic bubbles are implicated in many of these processes. Microbubbles enhance blood flow imaging and high intensity sound can generate bubbles in situ, a process known as acoustic cavitation. Cavitation bubbles convert acoustical energy to a form of mechanical energy that is highly concentrated in both space and time, resulting in a plethora of effects ranging from accelerated tissue heating to tissue ablation, from sonoporation to microscopic streaming. These "mechanical bioeffects" play a role in a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures involving ultrasound. We present an introductory overview of the relevant bubble physics and the roles played by bubbles and cavitation in biomedical ultrasonics.
Suggested Audiences: College
E-mail:
mdemetri@wpi.edu
Phone: 508-831-5459
Last Modified: December 1, 2009 at 10:11 AM
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