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 thyroid cancer. This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasonic energy precisely and accurately on targets in the body without damaging surrounding normal tissue.
How it Works
Where the beams converge, focused ultrasound produces precise ablation (thermal destruction of tissue) enabling thyroid cancer to be treated without surgery. Focused ultrasound can also be used at lower intensities to enhance the delivery of therapeutics such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy to cancerous cells.
Advantages
The primary option for treatment of thyroid cancer is surgical removal, which has the issues of nerve injury or other surgical complications, anesthesia and wound healing.
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.
Clinical Trials
There are currently no clinical trials recruiting patients for the treatment of thyroid cancer.
Regulatory & Reimbursement
Focused ultrasound treatment for thyroid cancer is not yet approved by regulatory bodies or covered by medical insurance companies.
Notable Papers
Jasim S, Patel KN, Randolph G, Adams S, Cesareo R, Condon E, Henrichsen T, Itani M, Papaleontiou M, Rangel L, Schmitz J, Stan MN. American Association of Clinical Endocrinology Disease State Clinical Review: The Clinical Utility of Minimally Invasive Interventional Procedures in the Management of Benign and Malignant Thyroid Lesions. Endocr Pract. 2022 Apr;28(4):433-448. doi: 10.1016/j.eprac.2022.02.011.
Kuo JH, Sinclair CF, Lang B, Spiezia S, Yu M, Ha EJ, Na DG, Offi C, Patel KN, Baek JH. A comprehensive review of interventional ablation techniques for the management of thyroid nodules and metastatic lymph nodes. Surgery. 2022 Apr;171(4):920-931. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2021.07.043. Epub 2021 Nov 12.
Fröhlich E, Wahl R. Nanoparticles: Promising Auxiliary Agents for Diagnosis and Therapy of Thyroid Cancers. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Aug 12;13(16):4063. doi: 10.3390/cancers13164063.
Liu Y, Ma Y, Peng X, Wang L, Li H, Cheng W, Zheng X. Cetuximab-conjugated perfluorohexane/gold nanoparticles for low intensity focused ultrasound diagnosis ablation of thyroid cancer treatment. Sci Technol Adv Mater. 2021 Feb 1;21(1):856-866. doi: 10.1080/14686996.2020.1855064.
Namakshenas P, Mojra A. Microstructure-based non-Fourier heat transfer modeling of HIFU treatment for thyroid cancer. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2020 Aug 8;197:105698. doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2020.105698.
Wang Y, Sui G, Teng D, Wang Q, Qu J, Zhu L, Ran H, Wang Z, Jin C, Wang H. Low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) triggered drug release from cetuximab-conjugated phase-changeable nanoparticles for precision theranostics against anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. Biomater Sci. 2018 Nov 13. doi: 10.1039/c8bm00970h.
Lang BHH, Woo Y-C, Chiu KW-H. Significance of hyperechoic marks observed during high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation of benign thyroid nodules. Eur Radiol. January 2018. doi:10.1007/s00330-017-5207-z.
Click here for additional references from PubMed.
