Shock and Radial Pressure Waves: Medical and Biotechnological Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Shock waves have long been recognized as a powerful tool in medical and biotechnological applications. Their unique ability to generate rapid mechanical pressure changes has been harnessed in treatments ranging from extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy for urolithiasis to various conditions in orthopedics, dermatology, oncology, and drug delivery. Most clinical applications rely on biological effects such as mechanotransduction, angiogenesis stimulation, growth factor release, gene expression, and membrane permeabilization, all induced by the propagation of shock waves through fluids. Several conditions, especially chronic muscular and tendon disorders, do not require the application of shock waves. They can be treated using radial pressure waves, i.e., pressure profiles having a slower rise time and a smaller pressure peak.

In biotechnology, shock waves facilitate cellular transfection, genetic transformation of microorganisms, extraction of phytochemicals from plants, and stimulation of antibiotic production.

This Special Issue aims to publish cutting-edge basic and applied research, as well as review articles, addressing the interplay between shock and radial pressure waves and fluid dynamic processes in biological systems. Emphasis is placed on how these fluid dynamic processes affect biological functions and applications.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Mathematical modeling of shock wave propagation in biological fluids;
- Bubble dynamics and their effects on tissue and cellular structures;
- Fluid dynamics involved in the formation of pores in cell membranes;
- Mechanisms of shock wave-guided drug delivery and sonoporation;
- Experimental and theoretical studies on the interaction of shock waves with biological materials;
- Numerical analysis of shock waves and radial pressure wave interactions with biological tissues;
- Studies on acoustic cavitation and its role in therapeutic applications;
- Fluid dynamic aspects of shock wave-induced gene expression and protein release;
- Interaction of shock waves with blood flow and vascular systems;
- Advances in imaging techniques for observing fluid dynamics in biological tissues under shock wave exposure.

We invite researchers to contribute their latest insights to this Special Issue, helping to advance the field of fluid dynamics in the context of medicine and biotechnology.

Prof. Dr. Achim M. Loske
Guest Editor

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• shock waves in biological fluids
• radial pressure waves
• shock wave-induced cavitation
• sonoporation
• cell transfection
• fluid dynamics in biological tissues