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The first thing I always think about with ultrasound is how it's used to break up kidney stones. Is there a danger here of breaking up the tumour and thereby a
by cperciva 7y ago
The first thing I always think about with ultrasound is how it's used to break up kidney stones. Is there a danger here of breaking up the tumour and thereby allowing cancer cells to spread through the body more easily?
- LinuxBender 7y agoI believe it is using heat (from ultrasound oscillation) to burn them. Cells can't survive the heat.
- cperciva 7y agoYes, I realize that's the intention. My concern is whether ultrasound might unintentionally break up the tumour and release cancerous cells to spread throughout the body.
- LinuxBender 7y agoI am not a doctor nor an expert in this area, but I would presume that would be a valid risk if the frequency were not tuned specifically to resonate the tumor prior to increasing the amplitude. And then there is the matter of focus / accuracy. Perhaps nih.gov has a study with numbers to show the attainable accuracy and what statistics are given back to the equipment and the doctor to compensate and tune the signal. My understanding is that the inverse is generally true, in that, there is too much heat and the surrounding area is scarred.