The 17th quadrennial meeting of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (WSSFN) was held June 26-29 in Berlin. Data from two key Foundation-funded studies were presented at the meeting, including the blood-brain barrier opening for Alzheimer’s disease, and the Parkinson’s dyskinesia study co-funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. “The international neurosurgical community is paying attention to focused ultrasound,” said Focused Ultrasound Foundation Chairman Neal F. Kassell, MD.
WSSFN 2017 Focused Ultrasound Highlights
Under the Main Topics section of the meeting program, focused ultrasound was listed in the “Novel Technologies” section.
A pre-meeting workshop on lesioning was moderated by Jin Woo Chang, MD, PhD, (Korea) and included the following topics from focused ultrasound experts:
- Historical aspects of lesioning – from Cooper’s cryolesioning to HIFU by Takaomi Taira, MD, PhD (Japan)
- Lesioning using HIFU by Nir Lipsman, MD, PhD (Canada)
- Lesioning for unusual movement disorders by Takaomi Taira, MD, PhD (Japan)
- Increasing the accuracy of lesioning procedures by Mojgan Hodaie, MD, MSc, FRCSC (Canada)
A keynote lecture was given by Jin Woo Chang (Korea) entitled “HIFU – From Blood Brain Barrier to Functional Neurosurgery.”
A keynote lecture on Controversies in treatment of movement disorders: HIFU vs Radiosurgery was moderated by Jean Ciurea and Andrey Golanov and included a presentation by Jean Régis.
Clinical Trials Session: Phase I Trial of MR-guided Focused Ultrasound Blood Brain Barrier Opening in Early-to-Moderate Alzheimer’s Disease. Nir Lipsman, Sandra Black, Kullervo Hynynen (CT01)
Oral Presentation: A phase I pilot study of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound pallidotomy for Parkinsonian dyskinesia. Na Young Jung, Chang Kyu Park, Si Woo Lee , Sang Keum Pak, Eun Jeong Kweon, Won Seok Chang, Hyun Ho Jung, Jin Woo Chang (OP06)
Oral Presentation: Sonication conditions influencing the efficacy and safety of blood-brain barrier modulation by low-intensity focused ultrasound. Shin Jaewoo, Chang Won Seok, Cho Jae Sung, Lee Jihyun, Na Young Chul, Jin Woo Chang (OP36)
Oral Presentation: Diffusion metrics and fiber tracts changes after MRI-Guided high intensity focused ultrasound surgery in a swine model. Jidan Zhong, Matthew Walker, Adam Waspe, Looi Thomas, Karolina Piorkowska, James Drake, Mojgan Hodaie (OP37)
Poster Presentation: Accuracy of MR-guided focused ultrasound therapy – comparison with radiofrequency lesioning -. Kenji Fukutome, Ryota Kimura, Yoshinari Okumura, Hidehiro Hirabayashi, Ohnishi Hideyuk (P112)