Many of the readers of this blog will be familiar with lithotripsy which involves the use of shock waves to disintegrate stones in the kidneys, bladder, and ureter (see: Lithotripsy). Scientists are now experimenting with the use of ultrasound to selectively kill cancer cells (see: Ultrasound selectively damages cancer cells when tuned to correct frequencies). They have called this type of treatment oncotripsy. Below is an excerpt from the article:
A solid mechanics lab at Caltech first developed the theory of oncotripsy, based on the idea that cells are vulnerable to ultrasound at specific frequencies—like how a trained singer can shatter a wine glass by singing a specific note. The Caltech team found at certain frequencies, low-intensity ultrasound caused the cellular skeleton of cancer cells to break down, while nearby healthy cells were unscathed....The researchers hope their work will inspire others to explore oncotripsy as a treatment that could one day be used alongside chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation and surgery. They plan to gain a better understanding of what specifically occurs in a cell impacted by this form of ultrasound.
I don't know whether this approach to cancer treatment will prove to be practical and effective. It will certainly take a while for this to be determined. However, think about some of ramifications of such treatment. First of all, ultrasound portable imaging is now readily available (see, for example: Philips Lumify). Let's further suggest that oncotripsy technology will prove to be effective and safe and the device becomes available for use in an outpatient setting. These two types of devices could be used for diagnostic imaging and the eradication of primary cancers and scattered metastases. This could mean that cancer treatment evolves as a relatively minor outpatient procedure that could be used in collaboration with immunotherapy and radiation therapy for a broad swath of patients.
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