NIH Publication Features Focused Ultrasound Pain Project

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Key Points

  • The NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative recently featured funded projects impacting the opioid crisis.
  • One such project is a preclinical study developing a novel device for focused ultrasound neuromodulation to relieve sickle cell disease pain.
  • There are six HEAL projects that are using focused ultrasound to treat pain.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative recently published a “Research Spotlight” featuring funded projects that are helping to make a difference in the opioid crisis.

A preclinical focused ultrasound study led by Bin He, PhD, at Carnegie Mellon University was featured. Dr. He and his team are developing a novel device for focused ultrasound neuromodulation in specific regions of the brain to relieve pain in a humanized mouse model of sickle cell disease. Their ultimate goal is to translate the research to help human patients suffering from pain.

“We are excited that transcranial focused ultrasound may enable significant reduction of sickle cell pain, offering a novel nonpharmacological means for pain management that promises to have implications to manage the opioid crisis,” said He.

There are currently six HEAL projects that are using various modalities of focused ultrasound to treat pain.

See the HEAL Initiative’s Finding New Options for Sickle Cell Pain >