Evaluation of Eventual Risks of Unseeded Inertial Cavitation for Enhancing the Delivery of Chemotherapies

Abstract : Acoustic cavitation is widely used to improve drug delivery in tumors. In this study, we evaluate the safety of using unseeded inertial cavitation (without external nucleation agents) for this application. We show that unseeded inertial cavitation (UIC) does not degrade doxorubicin molecules or alter its cytotoxicity. Moreover, histopathologic analysis shows only slight or reversible moderate effects on healthy tissues. Finally, UIC does not promote metastatic spreading. Thus, the particular conditions used in this study provide the possibility of safe UIC concerning these three points.