This article needs more reliable medical references for verification or relies too heavily on primary sources. (August 2020) |
Therapeutic ultrasound | |
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ICD-10-PCS | 6A7 |
ICD-9-CM | 00.0 |
Therapeutic ultrasound refers generally to the use of ultrasound for the treatment of a medical condition or for therapeutic benefit. Physiotherapeutic ultrasound was introduced into clinical practice in the 1950s, with lithotripsy introduced in the 1980s.[1] Other uses of ultrasound for therapeutic benefit are at various stages in transitioning from research to clinical use and include: high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), targeted ultrasound drug delivery, trans-dermal ultrasound drug delivery, ultrasound hemostasis, cancer therapy, and ultrasound assisted thrombolysis[2][3] Ultrasound used for therapeutic benefit often use focused ultrasound waves, however, unfocused ultrasound waves may also be used.[4]
In the above applications, the ultrasound passes through human tissue where it is the main source of the observed biological effect (the oscillation of abrasive dental tools at ultrasonic frequencies therefore do not belong to this class). The ultrasound within tissue consists of very high frequency sound waves, between 800,000 Hz and 20,000,000 Hz, which cannot be heard by humans.
Some of the advantages of ultrasound as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool include its safety profile, lack of radiation, portability, and low cost.[4] Therapeutic ultrasound in medicine ranges from extracorporeal shockwave therapy for the breaking of renal calculi to HIFU in which tumors are ablated. In the research field, use of ultrasound is being explored as a mechanism of enhancing drug delivery, sorting particles, and measuring properties of tissue.[2][5][6] In physical therapy, there is some evidence that ultrasound is more effective than placebo treatment for treating patients with arthritis pain,[7] a range of musculoskeletal injuries[8] and for promoting tissue healing.[9]
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