Using a diagnostic ultrasound system for photo-mediated ultrasound therapy

Photo-mediated ultrasound therapy (PUT) is a novel, non-invasive, and agent-free therapeutic technique that uses a combination of relatively low-intensity ultrasound bursts and nanosecond laser pulses to selectively and precisely remove highly optically absorptive targets. In this work, we developed an integrated ultrasound photoacoustic theranostic system (UPTS) by combining a ultrasound system (V1, Verasonics) with a pulsed laser system. The results from the ex vivo experiments in rabbit tissues demonstrated that UPTS, by working with appropriate laser wavelengths, can selectively remove tissues such as knee tendon and liver via the cavitation synergistically created by the ultrasound bursts and the laser pulses. Such a theranostic system can deliver effective PUT treatment to biological samples along with real-time monitoring by the integrated ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging.