High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Emerging as Groundbreaking Non-Invasive Treatment Option
High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU), also known as focused ultrasound surgery (FUS), is a non-invasive therapeutic medical procedure that uses ultrasound energy to heat and destroy diseased tissue through ablation. HIFU generates precisely focused ultrasound beams through transducers placed external to the body to reach targeted sites inside the body without making any incisions in the skin. The ultrasound beams converge to focus on diseased tissues such as tumors with millimeter-level precision and deliver thermal energy, also known as ablation, to heat and destroy the targeted tissues through coagulation necrosis.
How HIFU Works
HIFU works on the principle of acoustic energy deposition, where high-intensity ultrasound beams transmitted into the body from the transducer generates a large amount of heat through absorption of energy at the focal point of the transducer. The tissue at the focal point is rapidly heated up to very high temperatures of around 65-85°C, resulting in coagulative necrosis or tissue death through protein denaturation and cellular disruption. The surrounding tissues are spared from this heating effect as ultrasound energy dissipates quickly beyond the focal region. This allows for precise targeting and destruction of diseased tissues without damaging adjacent healthy tissues.
Advantages of HIFU over Other Treatment Options
Some of the key advantages of HIFU over other conventional treatment options like surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy include being non-invasive without any incisions, radiation exposure, or hospital stay. As the ultrasound beam causes localized thermal destruction of tissues at the focal point, High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound provides outstanding tissue selectivity without affecting surrounding normal tissues. It can be repeated as required with minimal side effects or complications for the treatment of recurrent or residual diseases post-primary therapy. HIFU also enables real-time monitoring of treatment through integrated ultrasound imaging for accurate targeting of tumors. These advantages make HIFU very appealing as a clinically viable treatment alternative.
Prospects of HIFU in the Future
As a non-invasive focal ablation modality with outstanding precision, HIFU presents tremendous potential for treating several oncological and non-oncological conditions that are difficult to access surgically or through other therapies. Its clinical utility will be further expanded through multicenter trials evaluating new disease sites and by addressing current technical limitations. Wider availability of regulatory approved next-gen HIFU devices could disrupt the cancer treatment landscape by offering clinically beneficial focal therapies. Continued translational research also explores augmenting HIFU ablation with immunotherapies, chemotherapies or targeted drugs for synergistic treatment outcomes. Overall, HIFU is emerging as a very promising non-invasive therapeutic option that could shape future of healthcare.
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