Albumin Microbubble Echo-Contrast Material as an Enhancer for Ultrasound Accelerated Thrombolysis

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Abstract
Background Recent findings suggest that acoustic cavitation is responsible for acceleration of thrombolysis by ultrasound (US) energy. It is known that albumin microbubbles lower the threshold of acoustic cavitation production. Methods and Results The present study was designed to determine whether the presence of albumin microbubbles used for echo-contrast material (Albunex) can further accelerate fibrinolysis by US. Artificial thrombus was produced by Chandler’s loop method with blood extracted from a healthy subject. Urokinase (UK, 1200 IU/mL) was added to the artificial thrombi placed in test tubes. Each thrombus was exposed to US (170 kHz) at a distance of 1.2 cm for a total of 60 seconds at an intensity of 0.5 W/cm2 at intervals of 2 seconds on and 4 seconds off. Echo-contrast material (0.6×106 microspheres per mL) or 5% albumin (for control) was circulated near the thrombus at a rate of 1 mL/min during the US exposure. Fibrinolysis was later determined by percentage of weight loss of thrombus after...

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