Key Points
- A new clinical trial will explore focused ultrasound neuromodulation to improve the symptoms of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and PTSD in adults.
- The research team is led by Gregory Fonzo, PhD, at the University of Texas at Austin.
A research team led by Gregory Fonzo, PhD, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, has launched an open-label, single-arm clinical trial to determine the feasibility and potential efficacy of using focused ultrasound neuromodulation to improve the symptoms of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and posttraumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) in adults.
The team will use the BrainSonix BXPulsar 1002 LIFUP system with MRI and neuronavigation guidance to target the amygdala region of the brain with low-intensity, pulse focused ultrasound for 10 minutes each day, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks. Up to 20 participants will be enrolled.
“There has been a great deal of interest from individuals suffering from mental disorders to participate in this trial,” said Dr. Fonzo. “This reflects the importance of developing new techniques, such as focused ultrasound, into neuromodulation therapies to alleviate the burden of untreated mental illness.”
Interested patients can learn more on ClinicalTrials.gov and are encouraged to contact Lauren Enten, BSA, at (512) 495-5286 or fonzolab@austin.utexas.edu.
Similar clinical trials that use neuromodulation with various targets for depression, anxiety, PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, epilepsy, and other conditions are underway at six research centers, including UCLA and Brown University.