Focused Ultrasound Therapy
Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to improve the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with deep vein thrombosis (DVT). This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the body without damaging surrounding normal tissue.
How it Works
The focused ultrasound produces precise ablation (thermal destruction) of the thrombotic tissue where the beams converge. This technique may enable DVT to be treated noninvasively.
Advantages
The primary options for treatment of DVT include medication and for some patients minimally invasive surgery may also be needed.
For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide a noninvasive alternative to surgery with less risk of complications – such as surgical wound healing or infection – at a lower cost. Focused ultrasound can also reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue, and it can be repeated, if necessary.
Clinical Trials
At the present time, there are no clinical trials recruiting patients for focused ultrasound treatment for DVT.
The Foundation updates these pages regularly, but with the increasing number of clinical trials, we want to be sure that our audience has the latest information available. Therefore, we also added the website search information for the above trials. If you click here, it will take you to the latest information available from https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/.
Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement
Focused ultrasound treatment for DVT is not yet approved by regulatory bodies or covered by medical insurance companies.
Notable Papers
Vazquez-Prada KX, Moonshi SS, Wu Y, Peter K, Wang X, Xu ZP, Ta HT. Branched silver-iron oxide nanoparticles enabling highly effective targeted and localised drug-free thrombolysis. Biomater Sci. 2025 Feb 17. doi: 10.1039/d4bm01089b. PMID: 39960377
Zhao K, Saucedo E, Basterreachea KF, Yang S, Haworth KJ, Holland CK, Racadio JM, Maxwell AD, Cursio JF, Wool GD, Ostdiek AM, Ahmed OS, Paul JD, Patel MV, Bader KB. Assessment of Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis and Histotripsy Treatment for Deep Vein Thrombosis. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2025 Jan 29:S1051-0443(25)00136-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jvir.2025.01.044. PMID: 39890017
Casoni P, Bissacco D, Pizzamiglio M, Nanni E, Serra L. Action of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation on the venous wall: Histopathological analysis, insights, and perspectives. Phlebology. 2024 Oct 29:2683555241297215. doi: 10.1177/02683555241297215. PMID: 39471838
Yang S, Zemzemi C, Escudero DS, Vela DC, Haworth KJ, Holland CK. Histotripsy and Catheter-Directed Lytic: Efficacy in Highly Retracted Porcine Clots In Vitro. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2024 May 21:S0301-5629(24)00172-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2024.04.002. PMID: 38777639
Xu L, Zhou Y, Li N, Yang A, Qi H. Platelet membrane encapsulated curcumin nanomaterial-mediated specific thrombolysis and anti-thrombotic treatment among pregnant women. Biomater Sci. 2024 May 10. doi: 10.1039/d4bm00149d. PMID: 38726643
Chen J, Yang Y, Li Y, Xu L, Zhao C, Chen Q, Lu Y. Targeted microbubbles combined with low-power focused ultrasound promote the thrombolysis of acute deep vein thrombosis. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Mar 16;11:1163405. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1163405. eCollection 2023.
Dadgar MM, Hynynen K. High-Pressure Low-Frequency Lateral Mode Phased-Array Transducer System for the Treatment of Deep Vein Thrombosis: An In Vitro Study. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2022 Mar;69(3):1088-1099. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2022.3141871. Epub 2022 Mar 2.
Dadgar MM, Hynynen K. High Power Phased-array Transducer Module for the Construction of a System for the Treatment of Deep Vein Thrombosis. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2020 Jul 24;PP. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2020.3011666.
Click here for additional references from PubMed.