Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies from 20 kHz up to several gigahertz. These are inaudible to the human ear because the upper hearing limit of a healthy young adult is 20 kHz. With the advancement in technology, the ability to control the frequency and amplitude of ultrasounds makes them very useful in the engineering, medical science, and material science fields. In medicine, ultrasounds are used for medical imaging i.e. ultrasound tests give noninvasive pictures of the internal organs of the body by conducting ultrasound on the surface of the skin and programming the echoes that reach back to the probe.
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Pharmaceutics is the discipline of pharmacy that deals with the process of turning a new chemical entity (NCE) or old drugs into a medication to be used safely and effectively by patients. In simple words, it deals with the formulation, dosage, and delivery of medicine to patients using a combination of chemistry and medical science. Some of the ways ultrasound is used or is expected to be used in the pharmaceutical industry are discussed below;
For a reliable and fast extraction of nicotine to indicate its levels in the formulation of drugs is done through a rapid, sensitive, and accurate ultrasonic extraction and Capillary Gas Chromatography. To extract nicotine from a transdermal nicotine patch, small pieces are placed in a vial with a small amount of heptane and sonicated in an ultrasonic bath. The complete extraction of nicotine is possible in less than 20 minutes. In plant extractions, to extract alkaloid reserpine from Rawfolia Serpentina, the maceration time has been cut down from 8 hours to 15 minutes with this method. In extracting active compounds from Salvia Officinalis, the efficiency surged with 60% of the target components extracted within 2 hours.
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By using piezoelectric crystals which are also used in ultrasound machines to produce ultrasound and hi-tech medical images, an ultrasound can be conducted to acrylic pipes which absorb the sound and get stimulated to transport the powder to the filling point. The advantage of using piezoelectrically excited waves is that this method is great for low voltage production setups, there is virtually zero wear and tear, very small dosages can be directed with very high accuracy and this setup allows for a smaller setup however, it is very sensitive to environmental factors.
Using ultrasound waves while causing chemical reactions for the synthesis of expensive drugs is a great way to increase the yield as well as reduce the reaction time. Studies have proven that no direct interference in the reaction is caused by the ultrasound energy to the molecules. To cause an interaction, an indirect phenomenon must be relaid.
To treat adversely affected tissue, a thermal dose can be administered to the affected tissue. For this purpose, great accuracy is required which can be achieved by using focused ultrasound technology paired with magnetic resonance imaging to precisely target areas within tissues. In addition, the temperature-sensitive MR sequences provide real-time feedback of rises in temperature to ensure a safe dosage is given.
