Researchers are bringing the use of acoustic waves to target and destroy cancerous tumours closer to reality.
While doctors have used low-intensity ultrasound as a medical imaging tool since the 1950s, experts at the University of Waterloo are using and extending models that helpcapture how high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) can work on a cellular level.
Led by Siv Sivaloganathan, an applied mathematician and researcher with the Centre for Math Medicine at the Fields Institute, the study found by running mathematical models in computer simulations that fundamental problems in the technology can be solved without any risk to actual patients.
