Efficacy estimation of microbubble-assisted local sonothrombolysis using a series of miniature transducers

In this study, a low-frequency(1.1MHz) ultrasonic thrombolytic catheter was designed. In order to evaluate its sonothrombolysis efficacy, the thrombolysis test in different experimental groups were conducted, including ultrasound (US) alone, urokinase (UK) alone, US combined with microbubbles (MB) and US combined with MB and UK. The results showed that the clot lysis rate of the different groups for control, US alone, US+MB and US+MB+UK is 28.2%,32.8%, 45.6%, 50.2% and 69.4%, respectively. Under the condition of optimal acoustic parameters (1.1 MHz, 0.4 MPa, 5% duty cycle, 500 Hz PRF), ultrasound combined with microbubble could achieve better thrombolytic effect than urokinase treatment alone.