Noninvasive acoustic manipulation of objects in a living body
Mohamed A. Ghanem, Adam D. Maxwell, Yak-Nam Wang, Bryan W. Cunitz, Vera A. Khokhlova, Oleg A. Sapozhnikov, Michael R. Bailey
Abstract
In certain medical applications, transmitting an ultrasound beam through the skin to manipulate a solid object within the human body would be beneficial. Such applications include, for example, controlling an ingestible camera or expelling a kidney stone. In this paper, ultrasound beams of specific shapes were designed by numerical modeling and produced using a phased array. These beams were shown to levitate and electronically steer solid objects (3-mm-diameter glass spheres), along preprogrammed paths, in a water bath, and in the urinary bladders of live pigs. Deviation from the intended path was on average <10%. No injury was found on the bladder wall or intervening tissue.