Dynamics of an ultrasound contrast agent microbubble near spherical boundary in ultrasound field*

Abstract

The goal of this article is to establish the conditions of excitation where one has to deal with ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) microbubbles pulsating near biological tissues with spherical boundary in ultrasound field for targeted drug delivery and cavitation-enhanced thrombolysis, etc., and contributes to understanding of mechanisms at play in such an interaction. A modified model is presented for describing microbubble dynamics near a spherical boundary (including convex boundary and concave boundary) with an arbitrary-sized aperture angle. The novelty of the model is such that an oscillating microbubble is influenced by an additional pressure produced by the sound reflection from the boundary wall. It is found that the amplitude of microbubble oscillation is positively correlated to the curve radius of the wall and negatively correlated to the aperture angle of the wall and the sound reflection coefficient. Moreover, the natural frequency of the microbubble oscillation for such a compliable wall increases with the wall compliance, but decreases with the reduction of the wall size, indicating distinct increase of the natural frequency compared to a common rigid wall. The proposed model may allow obtaining accurate information on the radiation force and signals that may be used to advantage in related as drug delivery and contrast agent imaging.