Progress of Ultrasound Microbubble Contrast Technology in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Clinical Diseases

Contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) technology has made important developments over the past decade. It has been applied in the clinical diagnosis for various diseases of multiple organs including liver, kidney, thyroid, breast and so on, which greatly improves the accuracy of ultrasound diagnosis. The emergence of targeted ultrasound microbubble makes ultrasound molecular imaging possible. More than the improvement of ultrasound imaging, microbubble contrast agent also could be an effective drug or gene carrier. Microbubble will rupture under the irradiation effect of local ultrasound, and then the carried drugs or genes will be released to achieve the purpose of targeted therapy. We should pay more attention on the progress of ultrasound microbubble contrast technology in clinical and basic research. It will promote better understanding and clinical applications of this novel medical ultrasound technology.