Ultrasound is best known for its imaging capability in diagnostic medicine. However, there have been considerable efforts recently to develop therapeutic uses for it. The purpose of this review is to summarize some of the recent advances made in the area of therapeutic ultrasound as they relate to drug delivery. In particular, this review will focus on the applications of ultrasound to enhance the delivery and effect of three distinctive therapeutic drug classes: chemotherapeutic, thrombolytic, and gene-based drugs. In addition, ultrasound contrast agents have been recently developed for diagnostic ultrasound. New experimental evidence suggests that these contrast agents can be used as exogenous cavitation nuclei for enhancement of drug and gene delivery. Thus, brief review of this new class of agents and their roles in drug delivery will also be provided. By comparison to diagnostic ultrasound, progress in therapeutic use of ultrasound has been somewhat limited. The recent successes in ultrasound-related drug delivery research positions ultrasound as therapeutic tool for drug delivery in the future.

中文翻译：

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超声治疗：在药物输送中的应用。

超声波以其在诊断医学中的成像能力而闻名。然而，近来已经做出相当大的努力来开发它的治疗用途。这篇综述的目的是总结与药物输送有关的治疗超声领域中的一些最新进展。尤其是，本文将重点关注超声的应用，以增强三种独​​特的治疗药物类别的传递和作用：化疗药物，溶栓药物和基于基因的药物。另外，最近已经开发了超声造影剂用于诊断超声。新的实验证据表明，这些造影剂可用作增强药物和基因传递的外源空化核。从而，还将简要介绍这类新型药物及其在药物输送中的作用。与诊断超声相比，超声的治疗应用进展受到一定限制。超声相关药物输送研究的最新成功将超声定位为未来药物输送的治疗工具。