By Feng Wu, Gail ter Haar, Ian Rivens

Ultrasound has been widely used in diagnostic imaging for a long time. In the past 10 years, image-guided focused ultrasound therapy has seen rapid growth, in biomedical science and engineering, and in clinical medicine. The purpose of this book is to bring internationally renowned authorities and experts in this field together to provide up-to-date and comprehensive reviews of basic physics, biomedical engineering, and clinical applications of focused ultrasound therapy in a widely accessible fashion.

Focusing on applications in cancer treatment, this book covers basic principles, practical aspects, and clinical applications of focused ultrasound therapy. It reviews the medical physics and bio-effects of focused ultrasound beams on living tissues, dosimetric methods and measurements, transducer engineering, image guidance and monitoring (including magnetic resonance imaging -- MRI -- and ultrasound), treatment delivery systems, and clinical applications. The book also gives practical guidelines on patient setup, target localisation, treatment planning and image-guided procedures for the treatment in various sites, including the prostate, liver, pancreas, breast, kidney, uterus, bone, and brain.

The book discusses major challenges for the use of focused ultrasound energy on living tissues and explores the cellular and physiological responses that can be employed in the fight against cancer from biological, physics and engineering perspectives. It also highlights recent advances, including the treatment of solid tumours using image-guided drug delivery, and the exploitation of microbubbles, nanoparticles, and other cutting-edge techniques. Readers who are interested in learning more about the technique and the clinical applications described in each chapter can find more information in the comprehensive bibliographies provided.

This book is suitable for anyone involved in, or looking to become involved in, the research and clinical applications of focused ultrasound therapy, including medical professionals, physicists, biomedical engineers, graduate students and others working in this multidisciplinary field. It offers a balanced and critical assessment of state-of-the-art technologies, major challenges, and an outlook on the future of focused ultrasound therapy. It presents a thorough introduction for those new to the field while providing helpful, up-to-date information and guidelines for readers already using this therapy in clinical and pre-clinical settings.