Ultrasound-based Control of Micro-Bubbles for Exosome Delivery in Treating COVID-19 Lung Damage

Fonseca, Bruna and Fonseca, Caio and Barros, Michael and White, Mark and Abhyankar, Vinay and Borkholder, David A. and Balasubramaniam, Sasitharan (2021) Ultrasound-based Control of Micro-Bubbles for Exosome Delivery in Treating COVID-19 Lung Damage. In: 2021 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops, ICC Workshops 2021 - Proceedings :. 2021 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops, ICC Workshops 2021 - Proceedings . Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., Virtual, Online. ISBN 9781728194417

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Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in high fatality rates, especially for patients who suffer from underlying health issues. One of the more serious symptoms exhibited from patients suffering from an acute COVID-19 infection is breathing difficulties and shortness of breath, which is largely due to the excessive fluid (cellular leakage and cytokine storm) and mucoid debris that have filled lung alveoli, and reduced the surfactant tension resulting in heavy and stiff lungs. In this paper we propose the use of micro-bubbles filled with exosomes that can be released upon exposure to ultrasound signals as a possible rescue therapy in deteriorating COVID-19 patients. Recent studies have shown that exosomes can be used to repair and treat lung damage for patients who have suffered from the viral infection. We have conducted simulations to show the efficacy of the ultrasound signals that will penetrate through layers of tissues reaching the alveoli that contains the micro-bubbles. Our results have shown that ultrasound signals with low frequencies are required to oscillate and rupture the polymer-based micro-bubbles. Our proposed system can be used for patients who require immediate rescue treatments for lung damage, as well as for recovered patients who may suffer from viral relapse infection, where the micro-bubbles will remain dormant for a temporary therapeutic window until they are exposed to the ultrasound signals.

Item Type: Book Section
Additional Information: Funding Information: The research emanated from this publication is funded by the Waterford Institute of Technology Postgraduate Scholarship. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 IEEE.
Uncontrolled Keywords: /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1700/1702
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Depositing User: Admin SSL
Date Deposited: 19 Oct 2022 23:14
Last Modified: 06 Aug 2023 04:30
URI: http://repository-testing.wit.ie/id/eprint/4820

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