More than 200 clinicians and scientists from Europe and across the globe gathered in Rome this month for the Focused Ultrasound Therapy – 2nd European Symposium, which was supported by the Foundation.
“The symposium more than met our goals of sharing knowledge and stimulating new ideas,” said symposium co-chair Alessandro Napoli, MD, PhD, of Sapienza University of Rome. “The meeting helped to establish and consolidate relations, foster discussion of research approaches, and fuel advances in the field.”
“It was great to see such promising and robust data on movement disorders, fibroids, breast cancer, and other indications that have been underway for a while,” said Foundation Chairman Neal F. Kassell, MD. “But it was really astonishing to see new ground being broken through clever applications of the technology to treat conditions like hypertension, osteoid osteoma, obsessive compulsive disorder, and lung cancer.”
The scientific program reflected the rapid expansion and adoption of the technology, with 75 abstracts, presentations, and clinical research covering a broad range of conditions, including:
- Brain: movement disorders, neuropathic pain, obsessive compulsive disorder, intracerebral hemorrhage, opening the blood-brain barrier
- Chest: breast cancer, fibroadenoma, lung cancer
- Bone: metastasis, osteoid osteoma, benign epiphyseal lesions
- Abdomen: liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, renal denervation
- Uterus: fibroids, fertility
- Cardiovascular: thrombolysis
In addition, presentations that highlighted new indications included cavitation, hyperthermia for oncology, thermometry and automatic temperature control, transducer technology, focal drug delivery, and standards/calibration. A workshop was also held on clinical evidence requirements for reimbursement.
The proceedings of the symposium will be published in the Journal of Therapeutic Ultrasound.