Multifunctional ultrasound contrast agents for imaging guided photothermal therapy

Among all the imaging techniques, ultrasound imaging has a unique advantage due to its features of real-time, low cost, high safety, and portability. Ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs) have been widely used to enhance ultrasonic signals. One of the most exciting features of UCAs for use in biomedicine is the possibility of easily putting new combinations of functional molecules into microbubbles (MBs), which are the most routinely used UCAs. Various therapeutic agents and medical nanoparticles (quantum dots, gold, Fe3O4, etc.) can be loaded into ultrasound-responsive MBs. Hence, UCAs can be developed as multifunctional agents that integrate capabilities for early detection and diagnosis and for imaging guided therapy of various diseases. The current review will focus on such state-of-the-art UCA platforms that have been exploited for multimodal imaging and for imaging guided photothermal therapy.