What is the therapeutic ultrasound?
Therapeutic ultrasound is the use of high -frequency sound waves outside the range of human hearing to treat health problems. It should be distinguished from diagnostic ultrasound, in which ultrasound is used in the medical context to identify health problems by creating images of the interior of the body rather than a treatment itself. Therapeutic ultrasound is often used in physical therapy to accelerate healing and reducing pain in patients with muscle, bone or connective tissue injuries. It can also be used for other medical purposes such as destruction of tumors, breaking blocks inside the body, such as kidney stones and blood clots, and help in drug administration. Ultrasound produced by medical equipment can have much higher frequencies and reach up to thousands of kilohertz. When Ultrasonic frequencies enter the patient's body, their energy is absorbed or redirected by the patient's tissue. The main advantage of ultrasound is that it can non -invasively penetrate deep into the body and cause effectsInside the patient without the need for surgery.
This affects the body in two ways, thermal and non -vermal. Ultrasound thermal effects occur because kinetic energy from ultrasonic waves is absorbed by the patient's tissue and generates heat. Nethermal effects are mechanical effects caused by ultrasonic waves in the medium they pass. This includes rapid expansion and contraction of microscopic gas bubbles in and around the body fluids in the cells in cells, the process called cavitation and fluid redirection when it flows around these bubbles called acoustic streaming.
The common application of therapeutic ultrasound is physical therapy for people with injuries. This is particularly common for the treatment of patients with connective tissue injury, such as tendons and ties, although this can also be used to injure muscular and skeletons. The heat generated in the absorption of vibration stops muscle cramps and increases the flowBloods into the affected area, reduces pain and promotes healing. As ultrasonic waves penetrate the body and produce heat in it, their thermal effects can achieve deeper than the heat applied to the surface of the body, as with a heating pad, so can be used to treat deeper tissues that would otherwise be inaccessible. Cavitation can also reduce inflammation and swelling.
Therapeutic ultrasound can be used to destroy cancer and benign tumors. Ultrasound focused on high intensity (HIFU) is a form of therapeutic ultrasound in which intense ultrasonic waves are carefully focused on a small area, causing a rapid rise in temperature in the affected tissue or weakening tumor cells. This is used in the treatment of uterine fibroids, a type of non -dancerous tumor that grows on or in the uterus, and for some cancer, especially prostate cancer. HIFU cancer treatment often occurs in combination with other treatments such as chemotherapy that becomes more effective if cancer cells are already weakenedy or damaged by heat. Research with HIFU is underway and this technology is currently being studied for its potential therapeutic value of the treatment of various types of cancer.
Ultrasound can be used to help with medication efficiency. A technique commonly called acoustically targeted drug supply is used to use a series of ultrasonic pulses in specific samples to part of the body to influence drugs. This allows the molecules to be more easily transported in the target area or through a targeted area, which is useful because it facilitates the targeting of drugs to a particular area of the body and increases the effect and reduce the amount of the drug required. This is particularly desirable for the treatment of drugs that are of relevant side effects such as chemotherapy, and so much research conducted in this area is focused on cancer treatment. This usually includes ultrasonic waves with lower -level performance than waves produced in ultrasound focused on high intensity, although the HIFU is examined for possible use also helping delivery of treatmentIva.