Progress in the utilization of focused ultrasound for treatment of the brain

Abstract

Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) guided focused ultrasound (FUS) has been shown to be able to safely ablate deep tissues in the brain in clinical settings resulting in reduction in recovery time and complications. Pre-clinical work has demonstrated that FUS energy when combined with micro bubbles(MB) could be used also for image-guided drug delivery into tumours and brain. The preclinical studies have shown significant survival benefits when FUS + MBs has been used to open the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) for large molecular chemotherapy agents, antibodies, and natural killer cells. Effective and safe delivery of nanoparticles and viral vectors has also been shown. This talk will briefly review the physical and engineering aspects related to the clinical FUS + MB exposures. The first ongoing clinical trials investigating the feasibility and safety of FUS + MB enhanced BBB permeability will be reviewed. Finally, the next generation phased array technology and the ultimate clinical potential of the FUS + MBs in brain treatments will be discussed.Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) guided focused ultrasound (FUS) has been shown to be able to safely ablate deep tissues in the brain in clinical settings resulting in reduction in recovery time and complications. Pre-clinical work has demonstrated that FUS energy when combined with micro bubbles(MB) could be used also for image-guided drug delivery into tumours and brain. The preclinical studies have shown significant survival benefits when FUS + MBs has been used to open the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) for large molecular chemotherapy agents, antibodies, and natural killer cells. Effective and safe delivery of nanoparticles and viral vectors has also been shown. This talk will briefly review the physical and engineering aspects related to the clinical FUS + MB exposures. The first ongoing clinical trials investigating the feasibility and safety of FUS + MB enhanced BBB permeability will be reviewed. Finally, the next generation phased array technology and the ultimate clinical potential of the FUS + MBs i...