This first measurement of ultrasound absorption in bone can be used to estimate the amount of heat deposition based on knowledge of the acoustic field.

No abstract

The majority of exchanges of oxygen and nutrients are performed around vessels smaller than 100 mm, allowing cells to thrive everywhere in the body. Pathologies such as cancer, diabetes and arteriosclerosis can profoundly alter the microvasculature. Unfortunately, medical imaging modalities only provide indirect observation at this scale. Inspired by optical microscopy, ultrasound localization microscopy has bypassed the classic compromise between penetration and resolution in ultrasonic imaging. By localization of individual injected microbubbles and tracking of their displacement with a subwavelength resolution, vascular and velocity maps can be produced at the scale of the micrometer. Super-resolution ultrasound has also been performed through signal fluctuations with the same type of contrast agents, or through switching on and off nano-sized phase-change contrast agents. These techniques are now being applied pre-clinically and clinically for imaging of the microvasculature of the brain, kidney, skin, tumors and lymph nodes.

Angiogenesis has been known as a hallmark of solid tumor cancers for decades, yet ultrasound has been limited in its ability to detect the microvascular changes associated with malignancy. Here, we demonstrate the potential of 'ultrasound localization microscopy' applied volumetrically in combination with quantitative analysis of microvascular morphology, as an approach to overcome this limitation. This pilot study demonstrates our ability to image complex microvascular patterns associated with tumor angiogenesis in-vivo at a resolution of tens of microns -substantially better than the diffraction limit of traditional clinical ultrasound, yet using an 8 MHz clinical ultrasound probe. Furthermore, it is observed that data from healthy and tumor-bearing tissue exhibit significant differences in microvascular pattern and density. Results suggests that with continued development of these novel technologies, ultrasound has the potential to detect biomarkers of cancer based on the microvascular 'fingerprint' of malignant angiogenesis rather than through imaging of blood flow dynamics or the tumor mass itself.