Dr. Paul Prentice
University of Dundee

Focused Ultrasound Surgery (FUS) refers to the application of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) to diseased tissue for minimally invasive therapy. At the intensities typically employed, cavitation is a common, virtually inevitable occurrence, and is attracting renewed interest as a potential mechanism for radically enhanced therapeutic effect, including drug delivery. The safe introduction of cavitation to tissue, however, demands that this potentially violent and destructive phenomenon is not only better understood, but ultimately, controlled. In this seminar, I will summarise work undertaken at the University of Dundee on fundamental cavitation observation and detection, with the over-arching intention of realising this objective.