A phantom feasibility study of acoustic enhanced drug perfusion in neurological tissue

Abstract--To test the feasibility of using 1.1MHz focused ultrasound to increase the diffusion of drug through neurological tissue, tissue mimicking agar phantoms and a water soluble dye mimicking drug were exposed to 1.1MHz ultrasonic sound fields for 1 to 4 minutes in duration. Histology was then performed on the phantoms to assess the effect of ultrasound on the perfusion of drug. Mathematical analysis was used to quantify the extent of perfusion of dye and parametrically fit the experimental data to the theoretical diffusion equation. Results show a substantial increase in drug perfusion and not diffusion like behavior for the sonicated phantoms.