Magnetomotive ultrasound

Last revised by Daniel J Bell on 20 Jun 2021

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Botz B, Bell D, Magnetomotive ultrasound. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 19 Apr 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-80910

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-80910

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/80910

rID:

80910

Article created:

9 Aug 2020, Bálint Botz ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Bálint Botz had no recorded disclosures.

View Bálint Botz's current disclosures

Last revised:

20 Jun 2021, Daniel J Bell ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Daniel J Bell had no recorded disclosures.

View Daniel J Bell's current disclosures

Revisions:

2 times, by 2 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Sections:

Imaging Technology

Synonyms:

Magnetomotive ultrasound (MMUS)

Magnetomotive ultrasound (MMUS) is an emerging medical imaging modality, which utilizes the discrete tissue vibration caused by superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles under an external magnetic field.

Physics

If an external time-varying magnetic field is applied (e.g. using an electromagnet on the body surface) SPIO nanoparticles within tissues are displaced, which generates a small amount of movement in adjacent tissues. With sufficiently sensitive, frequency-specific ultrasound transducers this movement can be detected and the signal selectively amplified ¹.

Practical points

While currently used microbubble ultrasonic contrast agents are exclusively intravascular, SPIOs can readily exit the vasculature and can be therefore used to target a broader range of tissues and cellular markers. As a result magnetomotive ultrasound can be theoretically utilized for a variety of molecular imaging applications ¹.