| The goal of this research is to understand the response of ultrasound contrast agents to acoustic radiation force. Ultrasound contrast agents are encapsulated microbubbles similar in size and rheologic behavior to human erythrocytes. A core of either air or a high-molecular weight gas makes these microbubbles extremely compressible and highly echogenic.; Clinically, the detection of blood is difficult without contrast agents because the echoes from blood cells are typically 30–40 dB less than tissue echoes. Ultrasound contrast agents have been shown to be extremely useful in assisting delineation of perfused tissue in echocardiography, and are being increasingly used for tumor detection in radiology.; The high compressibility of gas-filled contrast agents makes these microbubbles susceptible to translation due to radiation force. Thus, it is important to understand the effects of this force in order to avoid erroneous measurements based on the location and flow velocity of microbubbles. In addition, the ability to displace and concentrate microbubbles may be an advantage in targeted imaging, targeted therapy, or industrial applications where it is desired to localize microbubbles in a region.; In this study, experimental and theoretical tools are combined to investigate the interaction between microbubbles and an acoustic pulse. Several unique experimental systems allow visualization and analysis of the radius-time curves of individual microbubbles, the displacement of individual microbubbles in-vitro, and the displacement of microbubbles in-vivo. Theoretical analysis illustrates that the effect of radiation force on microbubbles is directly proportional to the product of the bubble volume and the acoustic pressure gradient. A model designed to simulate the radius-time behavior of individual microbubbles is verified from experimental data, and used to estimate the magnitude of radiation force. The resulting bubble translation is determined using a second model. Simulations of microbubble displacement due to radiation force reproduce trends and magnitudes of displacement observed experimentally.; The results illustrate that with optimized parameters that are within the current clinical ultrasound range, radiation force can cause significant microbubble translation, resulting in concentration of microbubbles and biased velocity estimates. |
