Ultrasound Oxygen Micro/nanobubbles: selective delivery of oxygen to the lung blood vessels to treat covid-19

2 min readSep 6, 2020

Oxygen has anti-inflammatory properties. (1) Its use in Medicine dates back to more than 100 years. (2)

Oxygen administration through the airways and , in severe cases, even mechanical ventilation are some of the most common ways to treat symptoms of covid-19. (3) There has, however, also been research on the possible benefit of intravenous delivery of oxygen to the body. One of such recent researches, although still not peer-reviewed and limited to a small number of Patients, seems to corroborate the idea that intravenous delivery of oxygen — in liquid form, obviously — may serve to alleviate the symptoms of this condition. (4)

I posit the possibility that selective intravenous delivery of oxygen to the lung vessels could have further positive effect in conjunction with conventional medical therapies. Such technique already exists for oncological purposes — it uses ultrasound activated micronanobubbles to deliver an oxygen load to specific areas of the human body. (5)

The main oncological goal of the aforementioned technique is to increase oxygen levels in the vicinity of cancer cells and, thus, rise their sensitivity to conventional cancer treatments. (5) Although the goal isn’t the same, this approach might also be used to increase the oxygen levels in the lung’s blood vessels, which may lead to a decrease of the inflammatory process in that area.

So, in conclusion: considering one of the most serious symptoms of covid19 is lung inflammation I suggest the research of this technique — ultrasound activated oxygen micro/nanobubbles — specifically directed at the lung area should be studied as a possible treatment with alleviating effects.

Ultrasound Oxygen Micro/nanobubbles: selective delivery of oxygen to the lung blood vessels to treat covid-19

Written by Mário Ferreira