Exploiting subharmonic emission from silica nanoparticles for dual mode molecular imaging

Contrast agents for ultrasound (US) imaging are currently used for several clinical applications, such as blood signal enhancement, myocardial perfusion imaging and characterization of liver lesions. During the last years, research in targeted microbubble contrast agents has opened new exciting perspectives in this field.: US molecular imaging (which relies on the detection of disease-targeted contrast particles), effective combination of echographic methods with other non-invasive imaging techniques to perform multimodal diagnostic studies, novel "theranostic" strategies based on the site-targeted delivery of drugs operated by smart contrast agents.