Open AccessMolecular Imaging with Targeted Contrast Ultrasound
Author(s) -
Mark P. Piedra,
A. Allroggen,
Jonathan R. Lindner
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
cerebrovascular diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.221
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1421-9786
pISSN - 1015-9770
DOI - 10.1159/000203128
Subject(s) - microbubbles , medicine , molecular imaging , ultrasound , thrombus , diagnostic ultrasound , pathology , contrast enhanced ultrasound , radiology , ultrasound imaging , angiogenesis , in vivo , cancer research , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Molecular imaging with contrast-enhanced ultrasound uses targeted microbubbles that are retained in diseased tissue. The resonant properties of these microbubbles produce acoustic signals in an ultrasound field. The microbubbles are targeted to diseased tissue by using certain chemical constituents in the microbubble shell or by attaching disease-specific ligands such as antibodies to the microbubble. In this review, we discuss the applications of this technique to pathological states in the cerebrovascular system including atherosclerosis, tumor angiogenesis, ischemia, intravascular thrombus, and inflammation.