Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33891552›Full record

ArticleIEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control2021

Focused Ultrasound Mechanical Disruption of Ex Vivo Rat Tendon.

Molly Smallcomb, Jacob Elliott, Sujata Khandare, Ali A Butt, Meghan E Vidt, Julianna C Simon

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 15% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Application of Focused Ultrasound for the Treatment of Tendinopathy: An In Vivo Feasibility, Safety, and Efficacy Study.Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Overview of Therapeutic Ultrasound Applications and Safety Considerations: 2024 Update.Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine · 2025
    Review
  5. Focused ultrasound as an alternative to dry needling for the treatment of tendinopathies: A murine model.Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society · 2024
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Dual-frequency boiling histotripsy in an ex vivo bovine tendinopathy model.The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2023
    Article
  8. The histotripsy spectrum: differences and similarities in techniques and instrumentation.International journal of hyperthermia : the official journal of European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology, North American Hyperthermia Group · 2023
    Review
  9. Frontiers in physiology · 2023
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Molly Smallcomb
Jacob Elliott
Sujata Khandare
Ali A Butt
Meghan E Vidt
Julianna C Simon
Pennsylvania State University · US

Funding

Histotripsy for collagenous tissues: a novel therapeutic approach to tendon injuryR21EB027886 · NIBIB · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE · PI SIMON, JULIANNA, VIDT, MEGHAN ELISE · 2019 to 2021
$574k
NIBIB NIH HHS R21 EB027886
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Around 30 million tendon injuries occur annually in the U.S. costing $ 114 billion. Conservative therapies, like dry needling, promote healing in chronically injured tendons by inducing microdamage but have mixed success rates. Focused ultrasound (fUS) therapy can noninvasively fractionate tissues through the creation, oscillation, and collapse of bubbles in a process termed histotripsy; however, highly collagenous tissues, like tendon, have shown resistance to mechanical fractionation. This study histologically evaluates whether fUS mechanical disruption is achievable in tendons. Ex vivo rat tendons (45 Achilles and 44 supraspinatus) were exposed to 1.5-MHz fUS operating with 0.1-10 ms pulses repeated at 1-100 Hz for 15-60 s with peak positive pressures <89 MPa and peak negative pressures <26 MPa; other tendons were exposed to dry needling or sham. Immediately after treatment, tendons were flash-frozen and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) or alpha-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide diaphorase ( α -NADH-d) and evaluated by two reviewers blinded to the exposure conditions. Results showed successful creation of bubbles for all fUS-treated samples; however, not all samples showed histological injury. When the injury was detected, parameter sets with shorter pulses (0.1-1 ms), lower acoustic pressures, or reduced treatment times showed mechanical disruption in the form of fiber separation and fraying with little to no thermal injury. Longer pulses or treatment times showed a combination of mechanical and thermal injury. These findings suggest that mechanical disruption is achievable in tendons within a small window of acoustic parameters, supporting the potential of fUS therapy in tendon treatment.

Indexed as

Achilles TendonHigh-Intensity Focused Ultrasound AblationTendon InjuriesAnimalsRatsWound Healing

Identifiers

PMID33891552
PMCPMC8547257
OpenAlexW3156210003

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.