Key Points
- In June, a group of experts met in Toronto to discuss the use of focused ultrasound for treating psychiatric disorders.
- A white paper summarizing the workshop, which includes a roadmap for moving forward, is now available.
The Focused Ultrasound in Psychiatry Symposium (FUS PULSE) was held June 5–7, 2024, in Toronto. As a focused ultrasound center of excellence, the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre team organized the educational workshop to gather a diverse group of experts, discuss the use of focused ultrasound to treat psychiatric disorders, and develop a roadmap for moving forward to advance the technology.
Approximately 70 neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists, radiologists, neuroimaging experts, physicists, and industry professionals attended the event in person. FUS PULSE was supported by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, Sunnybrook Research Institute, and Sunnybrook’s Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation.
“The enthusiasm and excitement were palpable in every conversation,” said Nir Lipsman, MD, PhD, director of the Harquail Center for Neuromodulation at Sunnybrook. “We are so grateful to be members of this outstanding community, as we work toward advancing these promising treatments for our patients.”
The meeting was divided into five sessions, each with two to three talks followed by moderated panel discussions. The sessions and discussion topics were chosen to address burning questions identified by the steering committee, which included Suzanne LeBlang, MD, Noah Philip, MD, Ali Rezai, MD, Renana Eitan, MD, Clement Hamani, MD, PhD, and co-chairs Nir Lipsman, MD, PhD, and Benjamin Davidson, MD.
- Session 1: Precision Psychiatry
- Session 2: Focused Ultrasound Technology
- Session 3: Focused Ultrasound Lesioning
- Session 4: Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation and Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) Opening
- Session 5: Future Directions
The presentations and discussion highlights from the workshop have now been summarized in a white paper. The major outcome of the workshop was that attendees advanced a roadmap for moving forward in the use of focused ultrasound to treat psychiatric disorders.
“I appreciated learning about the breadth of ongoing preclinical and clinical research in this field,” said Suzanne LeBlang, MD, the Foundation’s director of clinical relationships. “There are numerous systems being used and much to glean from impressive key opinion leaders…this field is burgeoning quite quickly. The networking breaks provided time to reinvigorate existing collaborations and initiate new ones.”
The FUS PULSE symposium was dedicated to the memory of Todd Mainprize, MD, the pioneering neurosurgeon at Sunnybrook who was the first to open the BBB in a patient with a brain tumor in November 2015.