Box 1 | Commercial products based on therapeutic ultrasound

Basic discoveries in biomedical ultrasound have been actively transformed into commercial products. Some examples of these products are listed here. Ultrasound physiotherapy devices have been available in the market for a long time. For example, Enraf Nonius makes ultrasound devices for physiotherapy applications. One of their recent models (Sonopuls 190) received US FDA market clearance in 2000. Ultrasonic hyperthermia devices have also been commercially available for more than a decade. Sonotherm 1000 (Labthermics Technologies, Inc.) was the first ultrasonic hyperthermia device to receive FDA approval, in 1989, for cancer treatment. Smith & Nephew manufactures an ultrasound device for accelerated healing of bone fractures (Exogen 2000+). The first such product received FDA approval in 1994 (then manufactured by Exogen, Inc.). Sontra Medical Corp. develops products for ultrasound-based transdermal drug delivery. Sontra's product (SonoPrep) received FDA approval for topical anaesthesia in 2004. Additional products, including those for glucose monitoring and transcutaneous vaccination, are under development. Mentor Corp. markets an ultrasound-assisted lipoplasty device (Contour genesis); this device was approved by the FDA in 2001. Ultrasonic nebulizers (made by several different manufacturers) are commonly used for delivering asthma medications, especially in children. As an example, Shinmed SW-988, manufactured by Shining World Health Care, received FDA market approval in 2004. EKOS Corp. is developing ultrasonic thrombolytic catheters and other drug-delivery products. EKOS received FDA marketing approval for ultrasound catheters in 2003. ImaRx Therapeutics is also developing ultrasound-based products for thrombolysis (preclinical/early clinical) and cancer therapy. Two other companies, OmniSonics and Vascular Solutions, Inc. (acquired from Angiosonics, Inc. in 2002), also make thrombolysis products. Therus Corp. is developing devices to seal arterial punctures during interventional procedures. Gendel Ltd. is developing chemotherapeutic strategies based on loading drugs in red blood cells and selectively bursting them at the target site using ultrasound. There also exist several smaller, early-stage companies working on additional applications of ultrasound.