The transdermal transport of pharmaceuticals possesses various advantageous properties over conventional drug administration techniques such as oral delivery and hypodermic injections. However, the stratum corneum persists as the main barrier, which impedes percutaneous transport. The ultrasound-based transdermal delivery of therapeutics is one of the techniques that are being investigated to overcome this obstacle. This review outlines the background information pertaining to sonophoresis and then discusses the individual sections of sonophoretic research. These areas include the sonophoretic application of various drugs, dual-frequency sonophoresis, synergistic combinations of transdermal drug delivery techniques, and the use of nanosized carriers in ultrasound-based transdermal delivery. The various challenges associated with sonophoretic drug delivery and trends of future research are also highlighted.
Keywords: acoustic cavitation; microneedle; nanoparticles; sonophoresis; ultrasound.