شبیه‌سازی دارورسانی به غضروف زانو با فراصوت پرشدت متمرکز

Osteoarthritis is highly prevalent in individuals over the age of 30, affecting 15% of the global population in this age group. Currently, there is no cure for osteoarthritis, but some medications have shown promising results. High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) can non-invasively deliver drugs locally to the targeted area of the knee cartilage. In this study, a drug was topically applied to a model of bovine cartilage and then transported into the cartilage using HIFU waves. The propagation of ultrasound waves in the cartilage was examined, followed by calculating the force exerted on the fluid from these results, which in turn was used to determine the fluid flow and subsequent drug penetration in the cartilage. This simulation achieved a maximum positive pressure of 3.5 MPa, and drug delivery reached a depth of 700 micrometers. The obtained results closely align with experimental data. These findings indicate that HIFU is effective in enhancing drug delivery and could potentially improve osteoarthritis treatment non-invasively.