Expediting the availability of new noninvasive treatments for breast and liver cancer, diabetes, stroke and other brain disorders is the goal of the latest research projects funded by the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation.
In all, the Foundation awarded $512,929 to six projects from January to June this year. Three researchers received funding through the Foundation’s Research Award Program; three others were contracted by its Brain Program to lead projects addressing key technical issues.
Research Award recipients
The Foundation’s Research Award Program provides funding for preclinical research projects and pilot clinical trials related to the application or use of MR-guided focused ultrasound technology. Funding is targeted to projects that have high potential for rapidly leading to the development of new clinical indications.
An independent Research Advisory Committee reviews all applications and makes funding recommendations for this program. New Research Award recipients are:
Nick Todd, Ph.D., a post-doctoral researcher in the University of Utah Department of Radiology ($100,000). Todd and his colleagues at UU and the University of Geneva in Switzerland are developing MR temperature measuring techniques that overcome the unique challenges of imaging the breast. Ultimately, their goal is to develop new, site-specific MR-guided focused ultrasound treatments for breast and liver cancer. Todd’s co-investigators are Dennis Parker, Ph.D., Professor of Radiology at UU and Rares Salomir, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Geneva.
Greg Karczmar, Ph.D., Professor of Radiology, University of Chicago ($100,000). In his preclinical research, Karczmar is exploring a unique use of MR-guided focused ultrasound: the placement of small marks, or tattoos, on tumor margins that are detectable by ‘on board’ cone beam CT units during radiotherapy. Because they will be encoded in tissue around the tumor, the tattoos will let clinicians accurately track a tumor’s position in 3-D as it moves and deforms due to breathing and involuntary patient motion. Karczmar believes that HIFU tattoos will improve treatment planning and allow for dynamic adjustments to the therapy beam so more radiation reaches tumors and less affects nearby normal tissue. Karczmar’s work is part of a multidisciplinary collaboration between scientists at the University of Chicago and Philips Healthcare. If early results are positive, the group intends to launch a clinical trial of HIFU marking to guide radiation therapy of breast cancer.
Charles Dumoulin, Ph.D., Professor, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Scientific Director of the Imaging Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center ($100,000). Dumoulin is using his grant to acquire and construct a preclinical focused ultrasound system for use with a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner. He will use the system to study the effect of MR-guided focused ultrasound ablation on visceral fat in obese rats to see if it shifts metabolic activity. The loss of visceral fat through dieting and surgery is known to shift metabolic activity, and it has been shown to slow, halt or reverse Type 2 diabetes. Dumoulin hopes to determine if focused ultrasound can be used to quickly and non-invasively debulk visceral fat in the treatment of metabolic syndrome. Although exploratory, this project could lay a strong foundation for the use of focused ultrasound in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases in humans.
Contract Award recipients
The Foundation’s international, multi-stakeholder Brain Program is sponsoring research vital to the rapid advancement of MR-guided focused ultrasound treatments for neurological disorders. During the first half of 2010, the Brain Program provided funding to three leading researchers to address key technical issues. These projects are expected to pave the way for needed clinical research. Contract award recipients are: 
Kullervo Hynynen, Ph.D., Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario ($23,203). Entitled, “Study of Standing Waves and Secondary Focal Spots: A Preliminary Feasibility Study,” this project is now complete. It explored the feasibility of performing acoustic field measurements in a closed skull during focused ultrasound treatments with the goal of ruling out the possibility of unintended heating away from the target.
Thilo Hoelscher, M.D., University of California, San Diego ($118,649). Hoelscher’s project is entitled, “Development of a Skull Database Using an Acoustic Intensity Measurement System.” Its goal is to assess the impact that skull thickness, density and shape have on the absorption and defocusing of ultrasound waves.
Jason Sheehan, M.D., Ph.D., University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia ($71,077). In his study, “Investigation of the Use of MR-guided Focused Ultrasound to Lyse Intracranial Clot in a Pig Model,” Sheehan is investigating if MR-guided focused ultrasound can dissolve blood clots within the cranium. Positive findings could lead to the development of new treatments for intracerebral and intraventricular hemorrhage.
