Ultrasound is a form of vibrational wave. It can transmit harmlessly through living tissues, and this makes it possible to use an extracorporeal source of ultrasound for therapeutic purposes. If ultrasound beams are focused and sufficient ultrasonic energy is concentrated within volume while they propagate through tissues, the temperature in the focal region may be raised to levels at which the tumors are cooked, resulting in tissue ablation. This process occurs without any damage to surrounding or overlying tissues, and the tissue ablation technique that employs such beams is known interchangeably as high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).
HIFU has been used as an adjuvant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy for cancer treatment since the 1980s. The purpose of hyperthermia to raise the temperature of the tumor from 37℃ to 42-45℃, and to maintain uniform temperature distributions in a narrow therapeutic range for 60 minutes.
Advantages
No anesthesia.
No bleeding.
No invasive trauma.
Day care basis.
