Ultrasonic longitudinal displacements, delivered to the distal tips of small diameter wire waveguides, have been shown to be capable of disrupting complicated atherosclerotic plaques during vascular interventions. These ultrasonic displacements can disrupt plaques by direct contact ablation but also by pressure waves, associated cavitation and acoustic streaming developed in the surrounding blood and tissue cavities. The pressure waves developed within the arterial lumen appear to play a major role but are complex to predict as...

High-power low-frequency ultrasound in the range 20–60 kHz has wide ranging clinical applications in surgical and medical instruments for biological tissue cutting, ablation or fragmentation, and removal. Despite widespread clinical application and common device operating characteristics, there is an incomplete understanding of the mechanism of tissue failure, removal and damage. The relative contribution of cavitation, direct mechanical impact and thermal effects to each process for specific tissue types remains unclear. Different and distinct mechanisms and...

INTRODUCTION Therapeutic ultrasound angioplasty is the delivery of high amplitude ultrasonic displacements to the distal-tip of small diameter wire waveguides with the goal of disrupting atherosclerotic plaques. This is a minimally invasive procedure that may have potential' in the treatment of complicated chronic total occlusions. The disruption of plaque is due to direct contact ablation and also cavitation, pressure waves and acoustic streaming in the fluid surrounding the vibrating waveguide distal-tip [1]. Cavitation appears to...

Therapeutic ultrasound angioplasty is a new minimally invasive cardiovascular procedure for disrupting atherosclerotic lesions. Mechanical energy is transmitted in the form of ultrasound waves via long, flexible wire waveguides navigated to the lesion site through the vascular system. The underpinning principle of this technology is that plaque may be disrupted through a combination of direct contact ablation, pressure waves, cavitation and acoustic streaming, which all depend on the amplitude and frequency of displacements at the...