The goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of using ultrasound to temporarily make vascular tissue and cell membranes more permeable to deliver drug to vessel walls. EKOS has developed an ultrasound-catheter device for transmural drug delivery that may be useful in the treatment of restenosis following balloon angioplasty. Local ultrasound enhanced drug delivery may increase the usefulness of drugs that are too toxic or expensive to deliver systemically. The results of Phase I demonstrated that ultrasound can make eukaryotic cells permeable for the uptake of exogenous materials. The permeability was correlated with aspects of the acoustic signature radiated by the cavitation field in the cell suspension during exposure.
The aims of Phase II are to determine the effect of acoustic parameters on molecular uptake and cell viability in simple cell suspensions and more complex organized tissues and to develop a measure for the cavitation mediated permeability based on acoustic signature analysis. This measure will give a real time feedback predicting the bioeffects for optimizing therapy delivery.
The EKOS product will be an ultrasound catheter device that actively delivers drug into the artery wall for the treatment of restenosis.
