Focused Ultrasound in the News

This article describes focused ultrasound technology and shares the story of Brenda, and essential tremor patient who was recently treated at the University of Virginia.

Meet two patients who underwent focused ultrasound therapy for Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. The article also explores the differences between focused ultrasound and deep brain stimulation, an alternative treatment for these patients.

This article shares the advantages that focused ultrasound treatment has over traditional therapies for patients with essential tremor. Professor Wladyslaw Gedroyc, a pioneer in focused ultrasound, shares his experience with the technology.

This article provides an in-depth look at focused ultrasound for drug delivery, blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening, and more. Read interviews and learn about research from Foundation Chairman Neal F. Kassell, MD; Nir Lipsman, MD, PhD, Sunnybrook Research Institute and the University of Toronto; Graeme Woodworth, MD, University of Maryland; Elisa Konofagou, PhD, Columbia University; Jose ...

Focused ultrasound is in the early-stages of research to address Alzheimer’s disease, but physicians are hopeful. This article explains how researchers are opening the blood-brain barrier in these patients and what is next in focused ultrasound for this devastating disease.

Researchers at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto successfully delivered a drug across the blood-brain barrier in patients with breast cancer that had spread to the brain. Learn about the collaboration that made this study possible.

Donald Gialanella is a sculptor who was unable to work because of the tremors associated with his Parkinson’s disease. However, after undergoing focused ultrasound at the Cleveland Clinic, Donald is back in the studio.

An international clinical trial of focused ultrasound for Parkinson’s disease targeted the subthalamic nucleus to address motor symptoms of the disease. This article delves into the study and the history of focused ultrasound as a noninvasive option for Parkinson’s patients.

A new study from researchers in Spain and the USA suggests that focused ultrasound could be beneficial for patients with asymmetric Parkinson’s disease, in which symptoms are much more severe on one side of the body.

It’s hard to talk about promoting focused ultrasound without talking about the Focused Ultrasound Foundation – and impossible to do so without focusing on Neal Kassell, MD, who has emerged as something of an evangelist-in-chief for the technology.

A combination of ultrasound and microbubbles can be used to make small holes in the surface of cells to allow drugs or other substances to pass through. This is also one method of getting genes into cells to help treat or prevent disease, so-called “gene therapy.”

Steroid injections, nerve stimulators and spinal fusions were no match for the chronic pain in Tammy Durfee’s left side — never mind the “searing-hot poker” sensation that would jab her leg. After a decade searching for relief, a procedure in Baltimore put her pain to rest.

Neuroscientists have limited tools for understanding the human brain and treating its illnesses. Surgery or inserted electrodes are too invasive for most situations. Existing noninvasive technology, such as magnetic stimulation, is imprecise.

When considering treatments that can save their lives — but involve profound changes to their daily routines — millions of Americans have confronted the same frustrating reality: Why are there no better options?

A startup is putting low-frequency sound waves to use with the aim of revolutionizing how drugs are delivered in the human body. Suono Bio is developing technology that uses ultrasound to push drugs directly into the human body’s cells or tissues, potentially making the drugs arrive at their intended destination more quickly and with greater ...

Researchers in Toronto have started a new phase of a trial that they hope will one day lead to the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. Using a technique developed at Sunnybrook Hospital called focused ultrasound, the researchers are opening the blood-brain barrier in several areas of the brains of patients with mild to moderate ...

Roughly 10 million people in the United States suffer from some sort of tremor disorder, whether that’s essential tremor or the tremors resulting from Parkinson’s disease. But a noninvasive treatment option that uses focused ultrasound to mitigate the effects of essential tremor is making its way into hospitals worldwide.

Tim Dobbyn suffered from violent tremors that made it challenging to work, cook, or even drink without spilling. NBC News followed Tim as he underwent focused ultrasound therapy at the University of Maryland Medical Center. After a few days post-treatment, Tim says his hand is “rock steady.”

Learn how researchers are using this 100-year-old technology to battle challenging medical conditions in the modern day. 

Following the Foundation’s participation in CES 2018, Forbes reports on the technology and the impact of John Grisham’s The Tumor. 

Foundation Chairman, Neal Kassell, MD, poses this question on the World Economic Forum blog and alerts their global audience to the potential of focused ultrasound to improve outcomes for patients. 

Josh Wolfe of Forbes interviews Foundation Chairman, Neal Kassell, MD, about the promise of focused ultrasound technology and his vision for the Foundation. 

Alexandra Lebenthal and Dr. Michael Kaplitt of Weill Cornell Medicine discuss Alexandra’s focused ultrasound treatment for essential tremor.

A new, noninvasive surgery, using a procedure called focused ultrasound, minimizes the risk of hemorrhage and infection and has been working in many cases, as an article in the New England Journal of Medicine attested in August.

In this video, neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Kaplitt and patient Alexandra Lebenthal discuss new advances in treating essential tremor, a nerve disorder.

The Focused Ultrasound Foundation, and chairman Neal F. Kassell, MD, are featured on the cover of the annual Generous Virginians issue of Virginia Business.

Doctors usually treat essential tremor with medication, but the drugs don’t work well for all patients. Now a new trial finds that a treatment using focused ultrasound to kill off neurons in a certain region of the brain can do away with tremors in some patients who don’t respond to drugs.

On “Trust Me I’m a Doctor,” Surgeon Gabriel Weston witnesses an incredible brain surgery using only focused beams of ultrasound, performed as part of a clinical trial at the University of Virginia.