Due to the ever increasing interest in the use of non-invasive ultrasonic methods in medical diagnostics on the one hand and the specific effects of ultrasound in medical therapy on the other, the questions of safety and optimal applications are topical and of great importance. For this reason the symposium "Ultrasound Interaction in Biology and Medicine," initiated and supported by the "International Organization of Medical Physics," took place. The organizers were the Institute of Applied Biophysics of the Martin-Luther-University, Halle (Saale), German Democratic Republic, in association with the Society for Physical and Mathematical Biology of the GDR along with other scientific organizations. Renowned and internationally noted specialists in the field of ultrasonics reported on the latest findings regarding the biological interaction of ultrasound, which promised future improvements in the methods of ultrasonic diagnostics and gave and up-to-date insight into the biological effectiveness of ultrasound. We are pleased to be able to publish selected contributions to this symposium collected in one volume. The methods of investigation, theoretical considerations and results concerning the interaction of ultrasound on molecular, cellular and system levels contained herein will remain up-to-date for a long time to come, providing thought provoking material for further inter-disciplinary basic research and medical application.

Methods and Phenomena, 3: Ultrasound: Its Applications in Medicine and Biology, Part II focuses on the applications of ultrasound in biology and medicine, including irradiation, acoustic attenuation, and impedance distribution. The selection first tackles selected non-thermal mechanisms of interaction of ultrasound and biological media, therapy with continuous wave ultrasound, and pulse echo visualization. Discussions focus on imaging properties, modes of operation, rationale for selecting ultrasound as a therapeutic agent, mechanical disarrangement of tissue structures, and wave distortion. The manuscript then examines a research approach to visualization of breast tumors by ultrasound methods, acoustic characterization of tissue at the microscopic level, and intense focused ultrasound. Concerns cover systems for irradiation with intense focused ultrasound, interaction of intense focused ultrasound and biological tissue, sonomicroscopic characterization of tissues, acoustic attenuation and impedance distribution, velocity of sound distribution, and methods of procedure. The book tackles cavitation and its effects on organized mammalian tissues and thermal mechanisms in ultrasound-tissue interactions. The selection is a valuable source of data for researchers interested in the applications of ultrasound in biology and medicine.

This book provides a thorough yet concise introduction to quantitative radiobiology and radiation physics, particularly the practical and medical application. Beginning with a discussion of the basic science of radiobiology, the book explains the fast processes that initiate damage in irradiated tissue and the kinetic patterns in which such damage is expressed at the cellular level. The final section is presented in a highly practical handbook style and offers application-based discussions in radiation oncology, fractionated radiotherapy, and protracted radiation among others. The text is also supplemented by a Web site.