Background/introduction Cavitation-mediated therapies for the brain, such as ultrasound-induced Blood-Brain barrier opening and sonothrombolysis for the treatment of stroke, are being increasingly investigated. Robust methods for monitoring and controlling cavitation are necessary for safe translation of these techniques into clinical practice. This talk will review our work detecting and mappi...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Insonation of the occluded target vessel (sonothrombolysis) has been reported to increase the effect of intravenous thrombolysis in ischemic stroke. Its use has predominantly been described in middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusions. Sufficient insonation conditions are a mandatory precondition. The impact of these limitations on eligibility rates for sonothrombolysis has...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The NOR-SASS (Norwegian Sonothrombolysis in Acute Stroke Study) aimed to assess effect and safety of contrast-enhanced ultrasound treatment in an unselected acute ischemic stroke population. METHODS Patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis within 4.5 hours after symptom onset were randomized 1:1 to either contrast-enhanced sonothrombolysis (CEST) or sham CEST. A v...

Abstract: We have developed phospholipid-coated microbubbles as ultrasound contrast agents. By incorporating ligands into the vesicle surface, targeted contrast agents have been prepared. Encouraging results have been obtained with thrombus-specific microbubbles for diagnosis and detection of thrombosis. These thrombus-specific microbubbles increase the rate of sonothrombolysis and accelerate c...

BACKGROUND Thrombolysis is a dynamic and time-dependent process influenced by the haemodynamic conditions. Currently there is no model that allows for time-continuous, non-contact measurements under physiological flow conditions. The aim of this work was to introduce such a model. METHODS The model is based on a computer-controlled pump providing variable constant or pulsatile flows in a tube...

BACKGROUND Catheter-based lysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) is a well-established therapy for spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). The effectiveness of this therapy can be increased with ultrasound, but the optimal conditions are not yet clearly established. Using a novel in vitro system of blood clots previously developed by our group, we investigated various pa...

The benefit of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) in acute stroke is linked to the speed and degree of clot lysis and artery recanalization. However, only 20% to 30% of patients have complete recanalization within 2 hours of intravenous tPA therapy, and up to one third of those with any recanalization experience reocclusion. Adjunctive strategies to augment the reperfusion benefit of intra...

Research interest in the area of ultrasound contrast agents is shifting towards therapeutic applications such as targeted drug delivery, gene and DNA transfection [1], sonothrombolysis [2], and sonoporation [3]. To date however, the microbubble response to therapeutic-type excitations has not been studied in detail and it is not well understood. Often the conditions used in published works are ...