Sonodynamic therapy using an ultrasound sensitizer compound
AssigneeAmersham Health AS
InventorsJan Alan Alfheim, Paul Mark Henrichs, Eric Paul Hohenschuh, Edvin Wilheim Johannesen, William Anthony Sanderson, Robert Allen Snow
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Abstract
A method of treatment of a human or animal body by sonodynamic therapy in which a sensitizer agent is administered to the body and the body is exposed to ultrasound to achieve a cytopathogenic effect at a site therein, wherein the said sensitizer agent is a physiologically tolerable substance which is capable of enhancing the cytopathogenic efficacy of said sonodynamic therapy. Preferably, the sensitizer agent is a water-soluble polymer compound or a conjugate thereof.
Claims14
A method of treatment of a human or animal body by sonodynamic therapy in which a sensitizer agent is administered to said body and said body is exposed to ultrasound irradiation to achieve a cytopathogenic effect at a site therein, wherein said sensitizer agent is a physiologically tolerable radical precursor substance being a water-soluble polymer compound or a conjugate thereof, whereby the cytopathogenic efficacy of said sonodynamic therapy is enhanced by the conversion of said sensitizer agent to free radicals under the action of said ultrasound irradiation.
A method of generating an image of a human or non-human animal body which comprises administering to said body a physiologically tolerable material and generating using an imaging technique sensitive to the presence of free radicals an image of at least part of said body to which said material distributes, comprising using as said material a free radical precursor and exposing said body to ultrasound of a power and frequency sufficient to generate free radicals from said precursor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.