Low-frequency ultrasound waves directly manipulate blood flow properties

For decades, ultrasound has been associated with diagnostics – a routine scan in a hospital room, a monitor displaying organs, tissues, or the first image of a baby. However, researchers are now looking at ultrasound from an entirely different perspective. New findings from scientists at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) suggest that ultrasound waves might not only help doctors see inside the body, but low-frequency ultrasound directly influences blood flow – potentially opening new possibilities to support the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes, reducing the need for invasive procedures or medication in the future.

What surprised the researchers most was that ultrasound did not affect blood in just one way. Their study showed that different sound frequencies can produce opposite effects on red blood cells: they can either encourage the cells to cluster together or separate them into single cells.

Red blood cells, also called erythrocytes, naturally tend to form reversible clusters known as aggregates. This process affects blood viscosity – a property closely linked to circulation and oxygen transport throughout the body.

When erythrocytes cluster together under the influence of high-frequency ultrasound, blood viscosity increases, blood pressure and pulse may rise, and oxygen exchange becomes less efficient.”