Microbubbles for Tumor Targeting Theranostics

Ultrasonography has been used for over 50 years as a diagnostic tool for the evaluation of tumor growth and dissemination in the body. Compared with other diagnostic methods, ultrasound is a safe, simple, noninvasive and low cost imaging technique, although its resolution is not comparable to that of magnetic resonance imaging. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound employing microbubbles is now widely used to diagnose number of diseases in the clinic due to its better resolution, especially for tumor targeting theranostics. Ultrasound contrast agents are no only effective in ultrasonic imaging but also as important tools for drug or gene delivery by disrupting microbubbles locally using ultrasound beams. In the last decade, microbubbles have been widely used as ultrasound contrast agents, drug delivery systems and gene transfection tools for tumor targeting theranostics. In this chapter, we summarize the fabrication methods for microbubbles, their applications in tumor diagnostic, drug delivery and therapeutic fields and predict the future directions of tumor theranostics using microbubbles.