Project title

Novel high-intensity ultrasound technique for localized personalized therapy of osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common musculoskeletal disease wtih no cure. OA lesions can be very local, but techniques to physically deliver drugs locally to the lesion do not exist. In this research project, high-intensity ultrasound (HIU) techniques to deliver agents locally into articular cartilage (AC), were developed. We succeeded to deliver drug-representing agents into AC using kHz and MHz ultrasound, laser-ultasound (LU) and shock waves. At best, local delivery with no structural damage to tissue was achieved in 5 minutes treatment. The results suggest that HIU -induced drug delivery is a potential candidate for targeted drug therapy of OA.