Visualization of the cavitation bubbles produced by a clinical shock wave field using a micropulse LED light

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy employs intense shock waves that produce cavitation bubbles understood to play an important role in therapeutic effects. This study considers shock-wave-induced cavitation bubbles, expected to be closely associated with treated therapeutic regions. A simple optical method was devised to visualize the cavitation bubbles under micropulse LED light illumination and to capture an afterimage of the bubbles for their entire lifetime from formation to collapse. The optical images of the cavitation bubbles produced by a clinical shock wave therapeutic device were shown to preserve the characteristics of the focusing shock wave field. The similarity of the characteristics may enable the cavitation cloud image to provide the intensity and location of shock wave irradiation for the clinical quality assurance of therapeutic devices. Further research that includes the dynamic effects in the static images of cavitation bubbles is suggested.