DMBN: How soon do you expect the use of this type of contrast agent to become widespread?

Goldberg: It has limited use in the United States right now because the FDA still has not given complete approvals. For more than a decade it's been used throughout Europe and Canada, and more recently it's been approved for use in Japan and China and in several other countries. We hope to get full approval soon in the U.S.
DMBN: Are there other ultrasound research initiatives involving micro-bubbles that you are undertaking?
Goldberg: Yes, right now I'm involved in research that I believe will significantly affect the outcomes in patients who have cancer. I'm heading a National Cancer Institute grant in looking at a tissue-specific micro-bubble ultrasound contrast agent in which we are able, in a swine animal model with naturally-occurring melanoma tumors, to detect the sentinel lymph nodes. By injecting the contrast agent around the tumor, the bubbles were then picked up by the lymphatic channels that go directly to the draining lymph nodes where tumor cells could collect and, in our preliminary results, we were able to see about 25% more nodes than could been seen in the past. We're comparing it to the gold standard of nuclear medicine which is being used now, and early results indicate it is about 25% better, allowing us to find more nodes. I think this will become a standard diagnostic procedure for detecting tumors in nodes and having them removed. At the present time many tumor-related nodes are not being removed because you can't find them. This is probably one of the more exciting things I've done. Also, compared to nuclear medicine which uses radioactive materials, with ultrasound there are no radioactive materials used, and of course, that's a big advantage.


DMBN: Are you doing any kind of therapy research?

Goldberg: In terms of therapy, our research group is doing therapy research in conjunction with some companies and research labs. We're also working with chemists in developing materials that we can associate or incorporate in our micro-bubbles. In this case - after we identify a tumor - we're looking to use micro-bubbles to treat the tumor and to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment as well. This technology is still not ready for human use. However, we've seen some promising results in some of our animal models - and by the way, all this research is grant-supported by various organizations, including the NIH.

DMBN: You're well known for your charity work, particularly as it relates to "Teaching the Teacher" programs. Tell us how that got started and what you're doing now.

More Industry Headlines