Focused Ultrasound Therapy
Focused ultrasound is a rapidly evolving, noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to improve the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with ovarian tumors. 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
Where the beams converge, focused ultrasound produces precise ablation (thermal destruction of tissue). This destruction can be done to completely destroy the target or to partially treat it, and partial treatment is believed to stimulate the patient’s immune response, which may have a broader impact.
Advantages
The primary options for treatment of ovarian cancer include medication and invasive surgery.
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. It can reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue and is repeatable, if necessary. Focused ultrasound also offers enhanced chemotherapy dose for the target, with less impact to the rest of the patient.
Clinical Trials
A clinical trial is recruiting patients with solid tumors with metastatic lesions, including ovarian cancer, at the University of Virginia.
See a full list of ovarian tumor clinical trials >
Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement
Focused ultrasound treatment for ovarian tumors is not yet approved by regulatory bodies or covered by medical insurance companies.
Notable Papers
Li M, Zhu Y, Yang C, Yang M, Ran H, Zhu Y, Zhang W. Acoustic triggered nanobomb for US imaging guided sonodynamic therapy and activating antitumor immunity. Drug Deliv. 2022 Dec;29(1):2177-2189. doi: 10.1080/10717544.2022.2095058.
Zhu X, Yan S, Xiao F, Xue M. PLGA nanoparticles delivering CPT-11 combined with focused ultrasound inhibit platinum resistant ovarian cancer. Transl Cancer Res. 2021 Apr;10(4):1732-1743. doi: 10.21037/tcr-20-3171.
Imseeh G, Giles SL, Taylor A, Brown MRD, Rivens I, Gordon-Williams R, Ter Haar G, deSouza NM. Feasibility of palliating recurrent gynecological tumors with MRGHIFU: comparison of symptom, quality-of-life, and imaging response in intra and extra-pelvic disease. Int J Hyperthermia. 2021;38(1):623-632. doi: 10.1080/02656736.2021.1904154.
Lei T, Guo X, Gong C, Chen X, Ran F, He Y, Shi Q, He J. High-intensity focused ultrasound ablation in the treatment of recurrent ovary cancer and metastatic pelvic tumors: a feasibility study. Int J Hyperthermia. 2021;38(1):282-287. doi: 10.1080/02656736.2021.1889698.
Guo X, Mei J, Jing Y, Wang S. Curcumin-Loaded Nanoparticles with Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound-Induced Phase Transformation as Tumor-Targeted and pH-Sensitive Theranostic Nanoplatform of Ovarian Cancer. Nanoscale Res Lett. 2020 Apr 7;15(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s11671-020-03302-3.
Obeidat RA, Aleshawi AJ, Obeidat HA, Al Bashir SM. A rare presentation of ovarian fibrothecoma in a middle age female: case report. Int J Womens Health. 2019 Feb 28;11:149-152. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S191549. eCollection 2019.
Gao Y, Chen S, Li W, Wang H, Xiao K, Wu L, Li Y, Li H, Li H, Zhu Y. An experimental study of ovarian cancer imaging and therapy by paclitaxel-loaded phase-transformation lipid nanoparticles combined with low-intensity focused ultrasound. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2018 Sep 26;504(1):203-210. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.08.156. Epub 2018 Sep 1.
Brüningk SC, Ijaz J, Rivens I, Nill S, Ter Haar G, Oelfke U. A comprehensive model for heat-induced radio-sensitisation. Int J Hyperthermia. 2018 Jun;34(4):392-402. doi: 10.1080/02656736.2017.1341059. Epub 2017 Jul 5.
Yan S, Lu M, Ding X, Chen F, He X, Xu C, Zhou H, Wang Q, Hao L, Zou J. HematoPorphyrin Monomethyl Ether polymer contrast agent for ultrasound/photoacoustic dual-modality imaging-guided synergistic high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy. Sci Rep. 2016 Aug 18;6:31833. doi: 10.1038/srep31833.
C. S. Muenyi, A. R. Pinhas, T. W. Fan, G. N. Brock, C. W. Helm, and J. C. States, “Sodium arsenite ± hyperthermia sensitizes p53-expressing human ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin by modulating platinum-DNA damage responses.,” Toxicol. Sci. : Off. J. Soc. Toxicol., vol. 127, no. 1, pp. 139–149, May 2012.
S. Wang, V. Frenkel, and V. Zderic, “Optimization of pulsed focused ultrasound exposures for hyperthermia applications.,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., vol. 130, no. 1, pp. 599–609, Jul. 2011.
S. Wang, V. Zderic, and V. Frenkel, “Extracorporeal, low-energy focused ultrasound for noninvasive and nondestructive targeted hyperthermia.,” Future Oncol., vol. 6, no. 9, pp. 1497–1511, Sep. 2010.
H. Matsumoto, “[Revisiting sensitization mechanisms in cancer thermochemotherapy].,” Fukuoka igaku zasshi = Hukuoka Acta medica, vol. 100, no. 4, pp. 95–103, Apr. 2009.
Click here for additional references from PubMed.
