Sound waves at frequencies above the threshold for human hearing are routinely used in medical care. Also known as ultrasound, these sound waves can help clinicians diagnose and monitor disease, and can also provide first glimpses of your newest family members.

And now, patients with conditions ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's may soon benefit from recent advances in this technology.

I am a biomedical engineer who studies how focused ultrasound – the concentration of sound energy into a specific volume – can be fine-tuned to treat various conditions. Over the past few years, this technology has seen significant growth and use in the clinic. 

researchers continue to discover new ways to use focused ultrasound to treat disease.Ultrasound is generated with a probe containing a material that converts electrical current into vibrations, and vice versa.

As ultrasound waves pass through the body, they reflect off the boundaries of different types of tissue. The probe detects these reflections and converts them back into electrical signals that computers can use to create images of those tissues.

Over 80 years ago, scientists found that focusing these ultrasonic waves into a volume about the size of a grain of rice can heat up and destroy brain tissue. 

Source:Ndtv