Ultrasound in Cancer Treatment through Nanotechnology

*Corresponding author: A. Shakeri-Zadeh, Ph.D. Medical Physics Department, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran E-mail: shakeriz@iums. ac.ir Ultrasound is an exciting theranostic modality that plays a critical role in diagnostic and treatment of various diseases [1, 2]. Owing to its non-invasive nature, acceptable safety, low cost and easy handling, ultrasonography is the second-most prescribed diagnostic modality by the clinicians after traditional x-ray radiography. Besides the diagnostic applications, ultrasound has attracted growing interest in cancer treatment. Following the thermal and mechanical interactions of acoustic waves with tissue, efficient and new approaches for cancer hyperthermia and chemotherapy have been recently suggested [3]. In recent years, with emergence of various nanoparticles and their different applications in the field of cancer, nanotechnology has presented great potentials to revolutionize conventional methods of cancer therapy and diagnosis [4, 5]. Herein, we briefly review several potential applications of ultrasound in cancer nanotechnology. Nano-Ultrasound Hyperthermia: Ultrasound, as an external source for hyperthermia, offers some intrinsic advantages over other heating sources, such as electromagnetic waves or laser. Heat induced by ultrasound can be remotely focused to any depth inside the body. Current ultrasound based thermo-ablation procedures use high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) devices to induce a rapid cell death in small regions of tissue for treatment of both benign and malignant diseases. Uterine fibroids, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate cancer, breast cancer, brain tumors, and liver and kidney malignancies are the main diseases in which HIFU plays a critical therapeutic role. Due to small volume of ablated tissue in the focal region of a focused ultrasound field, the exposure time must be elongated to treat large Editorial