Key Points
- Ten recent conferences included focused ultrasound presentations.
- Use the links below to access meeting programs and abstract information.
- Nuclear Medicine and Neuro-Oncology Symposium: Precision Medicine 2026
- ChadTough Defeat DIPG Research Workshop
- 17th World Congress of the International Neuromodulation Society
- Acoustical Society of America 190th Meeting
- American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy 2026 Annual Meeting
- International Congress of Radiology
- American Urological Association Annual Meeting
- American Society of Neuroradiology Annual Meeting
- 7th World Parkinson’s Congress
- American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine 2026 Annual Convention
Nuclear Medicine and Neuro-Oncology (NMN) Symposium: Precision Medicine 2026
NMN 2026 was held May 7–8 in Vienna, Austria, with the theme of “Diagnostic and Therapeutic Innovations in the Era of Precision Medicine: Nuclear Medicine Meets Neuro-Oncology.” This symposium is centered on nuclear medicine research and applications, especially with regard to central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Nuclear medicine is a valuable tool for diagnosing and classifying tumors, as well as for treatment planning and assessment. NMN is attended by radiologists, neuro-oncologists, radiation oncologists, and experts from across many disciplines of medicine.
“Nuclear medicine uses radiotracers—molecules labeled with radioactive isotopes that selectively target specific tissues, receptors, or biological pathways—to noninvasively visualize molecular and cellular processes for disease diagnosis and treatment planning,” said Suzanne LeBlang, MD, the Foundation’s director of clinical relationships. “Beyond imaging, these same targeting molecules can be paired with therapeutic radionuclides that emit cytotoxic radiation (“theranostics”), enabling highly targeted treatment of diseased tissue. Focused ultrasound–mediated blood-brain barrier opening could further expand this approach by enhancing the localized delivery of radiotherapeutics into the brain, allowing treatment to be concentrated within a precisely defined region while minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue.”
On Friday, May 8, during a two-hour session on Innovations and Controversies in Theranostics, Roger Stupp, MD, the chief of Neuro-Oncology in the Department of Neurology, the Paul C. Bucy Professor of Neurological Surgery, and professor of neurological surgery, medicine (hematology and oncology), and neurology (neuro-oncology) at Northwestern Medicine Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, presented “#Crossingthebarrier – the Role of Focused Ultrasound and Blood-Brain Barrier Transport.”
ChadTough Defeat DIPG Research Workshop
ChadTough Defeat DIPG is a research funding and patient advocacy organization that helps families navigate treatment options for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) or diffuse midline glioma (DMG). On May 8, 2026, ChadTough’s annual research workshop was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This event is an acceleration forum for researchers to collaborate, partner, and update and network with DIPG/DMG families.
“Progress is slowly being made for this challenging type of brain tumor,” said Foundation Research Project Manager Jenna Osborn, PhD, who attended the workshop. “Radiation remains the standard of care for palliative treatment, but the US Food and Drug Administration also recently approved a new medication called dordaviprone (brand name Modeyso, formerly known as ONC201). The blood-brain barrier remains a challenge for delivering novel or off-label therapeutics, but focused ultrasound was highlighted as a potential method for overcoming this obstacle.”
Posters
One poster highlighted the use of MR-guided focused ultrasound to improve the delivery of CAR T cells in a mouse model:
- Improving Intravenous CAR T Cell Therapy for DMG Using MRgFUS by Robert Teis, Ethan Hill, Kiel Neuman, and Giedre Krenciute from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Learn More About ChadTough and Its Patient Navigation Tool
17th World Congress of the International Neuromodulation Society (INS)
The International Neuromodulation Society (INS), a nonprofit group of clinicians, scientists, and engineers who are dedicated to the scientific development and awareness of neuromodulation, held its 17th world congress from May 9–14, 2026, in Lisbon, Portugal.
The following presentations may be of interest to the focused ultrasound community:
Plenary Sessions
- Mechanisms and Clinical Applications of LIFU by Julie G. Pilitsis, MD, PhD
- LIFU Neuromodulation in Depression and Anxiety: Lessons from a First-In-Human-Study by Noah S. Philip, MD
Meet the Expert Roundtable
- Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation by Noah S. Philip, MD
Presentations
- The Past and Future of Ultrasound Neuromodulation by Alexander Bystritsky, MD, PhD
- Novel Methods to Improve Precision in Transcranial Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound by Jean-François Aubry, PhD
- LIFU Mechanisms of Action – Implications for Future Inquiry by Noah S. Philip, MD
- FUS Neuromodulation Targeting Nucleus Accumbens: A Transdiagnostic Approach to Craving, Compulsivity, and Behavioral Health by Ali Rezai, MD
- FUS Neuromodulation for Depression and Chronic Pain by Jan Kubanek, PhD
- A Systematic Review of Focused Low Intensity Ultrasound for Psychiatric Disorders by Ahmed Raslan, MD
Oral and Rapid-Fire Poster Presentations
- Evaluating Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (tFUS) for Targeted Neuromodulation in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Double-Blind Feasibility Study by Andrew Bishay, BS
- Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation Targeting White Matter Inhibits Seizures in a Rodent Model of Focal Cortical Epilepsy by Annabel Frake, BS
- Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Differentially Modulates Superficial and Deep Cerebellar Neuronal Activity in Rats by Haorun Huang, MD, PhD
- Suppression of Pathological Oscillations with Transcranial Focused Ultrasound by John Eraifej, MBChB, PhD
- Revisiting the Role of S1 in Acute Pain Perception Using Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS) by Oury Monchi, PhD
See the full meeting program. The conference proceedings may be published on this page.
INS 2028 will be held May 21–25 in Dublin, Ireland.
Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
ASA’s 190th meeting was held in Philadelphia from May 11–15, 2026. The technical program included more than 1,000 abstracts and wide representation across ASA’s technical committees, including Biomedical Acoustics, Physical Acoustics, Engineering Acoustics, Computational Acoustics, Signal Processing in Acoustics, Underwater Acoustics, Speech Communication, Noise, Structural Acoustics and Vibration, and other areas.
Attendees included ASA members and nonmembers, students, and invited speakers, with representation from researchers, engineers, clinicians, industry participants, exhibitors, and representatives from the academic, clinical, government, and industry acoustics communities.
The following content will be of interest to the focused ultrasound community:
Session 4aBA: Biomedical Acoustics: Shocking Considerations in Therapeutic Ultrasound I
- 4aBA1. Shock wave exposures in medical applications: Highly nonlinear acoustic beams and physical mechanisms of corresponding therapeutic bioeffects.
- 4aBA2. Medical shock waves: Outcomes, mechanisms, and acoustic reality.
- 4aBA3. Acoustic field mapping of an intravascular lithotripsy catheter: Evidence for consistent, nondirectional output.
- 4aBA4. Non-invasive ultrasound therapy of calcific aortic valve stenosis.
- 4aBA5. Frequency-dependent acoustic properties of urinary stones and their implications for shock wave-induced stress simulations.
- 4aBA6. Shockwave transmission and biofilm disruption at knee implant interfaces.
- 4aBA7. Ultra-high-rate characterization of viscoelastic materials via bubble collapse.
- 4aBA8. Effects of transducer and pulsing parameters on histotripsy bubble cloud characteristics and ablation.
- 4aBA9. Histotripsy-induced tendon fractionation: Mechanistic insights and feasibility.
- 4aBA10. Characterization of flow and dose-dependent histotripsy bubble dynamics for DVT models.
- 4aBA11. Histotripsy-induced activation of platelets in whole blood.
Session 4pBAa: Biomedical Acoustics: Shocking Considerations in Therapeutic Ultrasound II
- 4pBAa1. Characterization of pre-focal cavitation during histotripsy and its influence on focal cavitation dynamics.
- 4pBAa2. Ultrasound-guided delivery of fatty acid nitroalkene-loaded microbubbles for treating triple-negative breast cancer.
- 4pBAa3. Ultrasound-targeted microbubble cavitation for the treatment of myocardial microvascular obstruction: A porcine study.
- 4pBAa4. Non-viral targeted inducible nitric oxide synthase delivery to the brain for modulating sterile inflammation induced by ultrasound-mediated BBB opening.
- 4pBAa5. Acoustic emissions-guided focused ultrasound for liquid biopsy in infiltrative gliomas: A multicentre, open-label, phase 1/2 trial.
- Session 4pBAc: Biomedical Acoustics: General Topics in Biomedical Acoustics: Therapy, Microbubbles, and Beyond, Thursday, May 14, Franklin Hall 7.
- 4pBAc1. Ultrasound control of cell fate determination of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural progenitors in vivo via heat shock promoters.
- 4pBAc2. Pressure responses of different lipid-shelled microbubbles: A perspective on pressure dependent stability and subharmonic response.
- 4pBAc3. Interaction mechanics of ultrasound cavitation on biological matrices.
- 4pBAc4. Comparing focused ultrasound to dry needling in two ex vivo tendinopathy models.
- 4pBAc5. Sensitivity of the shell parameter estimation method for lipid-coated microbubbles.
- 4pBAc6. Ultrasound-targeted microbubble cavitation induces Piezo1-mediated Ca2+ influx and transient gene expression changes.
- 4pBAc7. Egg white-based blood mimicking fluid for therapeutic ultrasound device evaluation.
Additional Focused Ultrasound–Relevant Oral Content in Biomedical Acoustics
- 1aBAa11. PUltrasound: Functional and focused ultrasound theranostic platform for brain disorder.
- 1aBAb2. Assessment of collateral damage during histotripsy procedures.
- 1aBAb4. Evaluating the likelihood of treatment success using the passive cavitation signal from a test pulse prior to focused ultrasound treatment of tendinopathies.
- 2aBAb7. Comparative analysis and development of aberration correction techniques for transcranial ultrasound.
- 2aBAb3. Design and construction of a low-cost amplifier for focused ultrasound applications.
- 2pBAa3. Evaluation of pressure-modulated single-cycle histotripsy methods for efficient and tissue-selective ablation.
- 2pBAa4. Focused ultrasound targeting of the cribriform plate/skull base enhances intranasal brain delivery and glymphatic transport.
- 2pBAa5. Ultrasound-enhanced bacteriophage delivery results in transient bacterial reduction within complex biofilms.
- 2pBAb2. Characterizing cavitation behavior in tissue mimicking phantoms under single-cycle histotripsy.
- 2pBAb4. Near-real-time passive cavitation imaging via GPU-accelerated sparse frequency-domain beamforming.
- 3aBAa5. Preliminary results of kidney stone comminution using acoustic vortices.
- 3aBAb6. Passive cavitation detection analysis of color Doppler twinkling materials with varying levels of peak negative pressure.
- 3aBA10. Characterization of flow and dose-dependent histotripsy bubble dynamics for DVT models.
- 3aBA11. Histotripsy-induced activation of platelets in whole blood.
Focused Ultrasound–Relevant Poster Content
- 1aBAb4. Evaluating the likelihood of treatment success using the passive cavitation signal from a test pulse prior to focused ultrasound treatment of tendinopathies.
- 2aBAb3. Design and construction of a low-cost amplifier for focused ultrasound applications.
- 2pBAa4. Focused ultrasound targeting of the cribriform plate/skull base enhances intranasal brain delivery and glymphatic transport.
- 4pBAa4. Non-viral targeted inducible nitric oxide synthase delivery to the brain for modulating sterile inflammation induced by ultrasound-mediated BBB opening.
- 4pBAa5. Acoustic emissions-guided focused ultrasound for liquid biopsy in infiltrative gliomas: A multicentre, open-label, phase 1/2 trial.
- 4pBAc4. Comparing focused ultrasound to dry needling in two ex vivo tendinopathy models.
Next Two Meetings: ASA’s 191st meeting will be held December 15–17, 2026, in Baltimore, Maryland. Its 192nd meeting, a joint meeting with the European Acoustics Association, will take place from June 21–25, 2027, in Brussels, Belgium.
The Foundation thanks Pavlos Anastasiadis, PhD, from the University of Maryland for submitting this comprehensive meeting summary.
American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) 2026 Annual Meeting
ASGCT held its 2026 annual meeting from May 11–15 in Boston, Massachusetts, and virtually. The in-person attendance averages just under 8,000 bench scientists, industry professionals, clinicians, and regulators.
Frédéric Padilla, PhD, director of the Foundation’s Gene Therapy Program, and Alec Batts, PhD, the Foundation’s current Andrew J. Lockhart Postdoctoral Fellow, attended the conference, where the Foundation sponsored a booth.
“Ultrasound-mediated delivery was prominently featured across several presentations this year, and there is strong interest in using focused ultrasound to deliver viral and non-viral gene therapies,” said Dr. Padilla. “Our booth drew a lot of attention from researchers and industry partners, and we were thrilled to see Kaiyuan Zheng, PhD, officially receive the second ASGCT-FUSF Career Development Award at the Presidential Ceremony. The Foundation is building a collaborative research accelerator, where a company with a gene therapy aiming for clinical trials (e.g., with a lipid nanoparticle), could pair with a delivery partner to run a quick proof-of-concept study. That kind of setup could meaningfully speed up progress for the field.”
The following presentations and abstracts will be of interest to the focused ultrasound community:
- 54. Development of a safe and effective islet-targeted nanoplasmid-based gene delivery system using using cationic nanobubble–mediated sonotransfection to restore and immunoprotect the residual beta-cell mass in T1D by Fatma Dogan, Kathryn Hartmoore, Valentina F. Giai, Laura E. Chen, Sitong Ye, Mark Ciccaglione, Salima El Yakhlifi, Pinunta Nittayacharn, Timothy Brauns, Agata A. Exner, Richard Benninger, and Mark C. Poznansky from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and Case Western Reserve University
- 59. Robust siRNA knock-down in the muscle, kidney, adipose, and brain using RIPPLE™ non-viral noninvasive immune-stealth delivery platform by Ivan Krivega, Margarita Krivega, Isha Dhami, Fabian Juen, Elizabeth Del Greko, Katelyn Benthall, David Kim, Diego Diaz, Cindy Ku, Nana Ingram, Dale George, Surabhi Frank, Victor Foster, Gwendolyn Austin, Brooke Babineau, Charles Levine, Jon Chan, Divya Mehra, Nancy Jorgesen, Steven Feinstein, and Kenneth Greenberg from SonoThera (South San Francisco, California)
- 209. Amelioration of DMD disease phenotype through full-length dystrophin protein expression using SonoThera’s RIPPLE, a non-viral, noninvasive, immune stealth gene delivery platform by Ivan Krivega, Katelyn Benthall, Charles Levine, Margarita Krivega, Brooke Babineau, Glenn Pacheco, Elizabeth Del Greko, David Kim, Anagha Rao, Diego Diaz, Dale George, Nana Ingram, Yoko Takashima, Erin Tom, Cindy Ku, Shubhangi Singh, Gwendolyn Austin, Daniel Barajas, Curtis Lai, Breanna Peredes, Surabhi Frank, Jon Chan, Victor Foster, Divya Mehra, Oliver Chen, Tanaya Ghosh, David Satyadi, Steven Feinstein, and Kenneth Greenberg from SonoThera (South San Francisco, California)
- 1098. Non-viral delivery of base editor ribonucleoprotein using focused ultrasound for gene correction in human induced pluripotent stem cells by Kyle Hazel, Setareh Eftekhari, Zakary Guertin, Davindra Singh, and Brandon Helfield from Concordia University (Montreal, Canada)
- 1099. Characterization of a nonviral, ultrasound-triggered gene delivery platform via cationic gas-core nanobubbles by Laura E. Chen, Pinunta Nittayacharn, Aayushi Laliwala, Salima El Yakhlifi, Jean F. Eastman, Kathryn Hartmoore, Fatma Dogan, Valentina F. Giai, Timothy Brauns, Mark C. Poznansky, Richard Benninger, Mitchell L. Drumm, and Agata A. Exner from Case Western Reserve University, Mahidol University, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School
- 1445. Sonogenetic gene therapy for vision restoration in rodents by Sanghoon Kim, Subrata Batabyal, Jie Ji, Lucero Garcia, Megan Aldape, Eman Shamekh, Michael Carlson, Adnan Dibas, Mark Humayun, Qifa Zhou, and Samarendra Mohanty from Nanoscope Technologies LLC, and the University of Southern California
- 2448. Noninvasive focused ultrasound–mediated brain gene editing for Alzheimer’s disease using viral and nonviral delivery platforms by Kaiyuan Zheng from Columbia University
- 2468. Focused ultrasound as a noninvasive platform for the striatal delivery of AAV-based gene therapies targeting Msh3 in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease by Bernie Simone Owusu-Yaw, Yongzhi Zhang, Chanikarn Power, Fengfeng Bei, Ricardo Mouro Pinto, Kimberly Kegel-Gleason, and Nick Todd from Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
- 3104. Enhanced in vivo gene editing via transcutaneous ultrasound–mediated delivery of engineered virus-like particles by Ting-Yen Chao, Yuanyi Xu, and Carol Miao from Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the University of Washington
- 3513. Non-Viral, Safe, Redosable Oversized FVIII Expression for Hemophilia A Using SonoThera’s RIPPLE™ Platform by Ivan Krivega, Brooke Babineau, Surabhi Frank, Margarita Krivega, Elizabeth Del Greko, David Satyadi, Katelyn Benthall, David Kim, Anagha Rao, Diego Diaz, Nana Ingram, Dale George, Yoko Takashima, Cindy Ku, Shubhangi Singh, Victor Foster, Gwendolyn Austin, Breanna Peredes, Oliver Chen, Tanaya Ghosh, Charles Levine, Jon Chan, Divya Mehra, Nancy Jorgesen, Steven Feinstein, and Kenneth Greenberg from SonoThera (South San Francisco, California)
All meeting content is still available on demand. Search the meeting organizer for your own key words or topics of interest.
International Congress of Radiology (ICR) 2026
More than 2,000 participants from 38 countries gathered in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, from May 14-16, 2026, for ICR, which was held in conjunction with the 49th Colombian Congress of Radiology.
Alan Matsumoto, MD, an interventional radiologist and professor of radiology at the University of Virginia who also serves as the chair of the Board of Chancellors of the American College of Radiology, presented “Focused Ultrasound: An Innovative Image-Guided Technology for Treatment of a Wide Range of Diseases.”
American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting
The AUA’s 121st Annual Meeting was held May 15–18, 2026, in Washington, DC. This specialty conference includes sessions announcing groundbreaking clinical trials, the presentation of new scientific guidelines, and hands-on surgical training among its many educational offerings.
At the Saturday morning plenary session, Sonomotion clinical trial results were presented in “P2s: Practice-Changing, Paradigm-Shifting Clinical Trials in Urology: Break Wave Lithotripsy: FDA-Cleared, Anesthesia-Free Point-of-Care Technology Redefining Stone Management (S.O.U.N.D. Pivotal Trial).”
HistoSonics sponsored a booth presentation titled, “Histotripsy: Noninvasive tumor destruction and its potential in urologic applications.”
The following content will also be of interest to the focused ultrasound community:
IP26 Prostate Cancer/Localized/Ablative Therapy I (22)
- IP26-02: Tumor characteristics of in-field and out-of-field recurrences following focal therapy for localized prostate cancer: An analysis of 1050 patients
- IP26-03: In-depth spatial pathologic analysis of infield recurrences after focal high-intensity focused ultrasound – insights to improve cancer eradication
- IP26-04: A multicenter evaluation of infield recurrence rates in patients treated with focal HIFU or cryotherapy
- IP26-05: How to reduce the local recurrence rate of prostate cancer after focal HIFU?
- IP26-06: Deep learning–derived features from pre-treatment MRI predict failure of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy in prostate cancer patients.
- IP26-07: 5-year oncologic outcomes and predictive factors after HIFU treatment for localized prostate cancer
- IP26-08: MRI after HIFU treatment is not a reliable determinant for clinically significant prostate cancer
- IP26-09: Validation of existing risk stratification tools for predicting treatment failure after focal therapy: An analysis of 3460 patients from the HEAT and ICE registries
- IP26-10: FOCS-24: A composite nomogram predicting complete oncological and functional success after focal therapy for localized prostate cancer
- IP26-11: 5-year outcomes after index lesion ablation of multifocal prostate cancer using focal HIFU and cryotherapy: an analysis of 1050 patients
- IP26-12: Focal therapy for localised prostate cancer: Clinical and imaging predictors of failure in a 4-year prospective cohort
- IP26-13: Impact of MRI-detectable lesion characteristics on oncologic outcomes after partial gland ablation for localized prostate cancer
- IP26-14: Pre-treatment high-risk decipher category predicts recurrence after primary focal ablation
- IP26-15: Success Metrics of Prostate Cancer Focal Therapy
- IP26-16: Predictors of salvage radical treatment after partial gland focal therapy for localized prostate cancer
- IP26-17: Determining optimal patient selection for HIFU: predictors of treatment failure
- IP26-18: Does incorporating treatment volume into postoperative PSA surveillance following prostate cancer high intensity focused ultrasound therapy improve the predictive performance for recurrence?
- IP26-21: Baseline maximal core and total length Gleason pattern-4 associated with recurrence risk after primary focal ablation for grade group 2 prostate cancer in a single institution
- IP26-22: Tumor–capsule contact length on MRI as a predictor of oncologic outcomes after partial gland ablation for prostate cancer
- IP26-23: Prognostic value of preoperative SUV in patients who underwent focal therapy HIFU: early prospective results from a single-center cohort
- IP26-24: Single-tap versus double-tap high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for localized prostate cancer: a propensity score–matched analysis
- IP26-30: Microultrasound for post-HIFU surveillance in localized prostate cancer: a prospective experience
IP29: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia/Surgical Therapy & New Technology IV (1)
- IP29-19: Histoblast: Preliminary medium-term outcomes of a modified HIFU technique for benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment – a case series
IP37: Prostate Cancer/Localized: Ablative Therapy II (13)
- IP37-01: 10-year oncological outcomes following focal HIFU and cryotherapy for treatment of non-metastatic prostate cancer: An analysis of 3471 patients from the prospective HEAT and ICE registries
- IP37-02: Comparison of contemporary patient selection criteria for focal therapy: An analysis of 2658 patients from the prospective HEAT and ICE registries
- IP37-05: A multi-institution analysis of oncological and safety outcomes following focal therapy in the USA
- IP37-09: Pre-salvage PSMA PET/CT utilization and prognostic value in a contemporary salvage cohort
- IP37-10: “Too late to fall:” Prolonged PSA nadir as a marker of early oncologic failure after cryoablation and HIFU for localized prostate cancer
- IP37-11: Propensity score matched analysis: focal therapy compared to robot-assisted radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer
- IP37-12: Functional and early oncologic outcomes of salvage robotic assisted radical prostatectomy after high intensity focused ultrasound prostate ablation: a multicentre study
- IP37-13: Multicenter registry of MRI-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation (TULSA): MRI characteristics associated with treatment outcome
- IP37-14: Morphologic and perfusion changes induced by short-term neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy before MRI-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation for localized prostate cancer
- IP37-15: Transurethral ultrasound ablation of the prostate is effective for localized prostate cancer and functional preservation: single-center real-world data
- IP37-16: Lesion-targeted MRI-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation for localized prostate cancer: 12-month safety, efficacy, and functional outcomes from a phase 2 trial
- IP37-29: Focal therapy vs robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and Bayesian network analysis
- IP37-30: Functional and perioperative outcomes of high-intensity focused ultrasound therapy: A comparison with single-port transvesical and multi-port transperitoneal approaches
IP49: Prostate Cancer/Basic Research & Pathophysiology I (1)
- IP49-11: Biological effects of acoustic cavitation in chemosensitization and immunomodulation of neuroendocrine prostate cancer
IP51: Improving Access and Outcomes Across All Populations II (1)
- IP51-15: Telesurgery in Prostate Cancer: A Systematic Review of Clinical Applications and Future Directions
IP53: Imaging/Uroradiology II (2)
- IP53-05: The Ablation site IMaging (AIM) multicentre diagnostic accuracy study of MRI after focal therapy for localized prostate cancer
- IP53-28: Prospective comparison of PSMA-FAD vs PI-FAB in prostate cancer patients undergoing focal therapy
IP79: Prostate Cancer: Localized: Surgical Therapy IV (1)
- IP79-02: Patient regret following focal therapy vs radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer
V12: Prostate Oncology/Penile & Testis Oncology/Misc. Oncology I (2)
- V12-06: Partial gland HIFU for ablation of prostate cancer: technique and outcomes
- V12-10: Salvage single port transvesical robotic radical prostatectomy following high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)
V14: Prostate Oncology/Penile & Testis Oncology/Misc. Oncology II (1)
- V14-12: First-in-human transcontinental robotic HIFU telesurgery: A new era in globalizing focal treatment for prostate cancer
Search the annual meeting app for your own key words or topics of interest.
All abstracts have been published in the May 2026 issue of the Journal of Urology.
See the Sonomotion Press Release
American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR) Annual Meeting
ASNR’s 2026 annual meeting was held May 17–20 in Austin with more than 1,000 attendees and the theme of “Lead. Innovate. Scale.”
“It was interesting to see how combination MRI/PET scanners are now being used for neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimer’s, and brain tumors,” said Suzanne LeBlang, MD, the Foundation’s director of clinical relationships, who attended ASNR. “MRI scans provide detailed anatomical images, while PET scans provide functional information by measuring tissue metabolism or other biological processes through specialized radiotracers. These devices can also create synthetic MRI images, which makes the MRI sessions shorter. This functionality could be useful for MRI-guided focused ultrasound procedures to improve targeting to precise areas. Overall, it was a great opportunity for networking with our community, and we developed several new collaborative opportunities.”
Two focused ultrasound abstracts were presented at this meeting:
- 663. Nanobodies Delivered with Focused Ultrasound Enhances Human Tau Detection In-Vivo by Deepshikha Bhardwaj PhD, Ankit Gupta PhD, Wojciech Lesniak PhD, Sandi Terpack, Marc Diamond MD, and Bhavya R Shah, MD, from UT Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, TX, USA)
- 1043. 300 Patients: Our Experience in Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamothomy (MRgFUS) for Essential Tremor and Parkinson’s Disease Tremor by Antonio Innocenzi, Federico Bruno, Alessia Catalucci, Patrizia Sucapane, Francesca Pistoia, Ernesto Di Cesare, and Alessandra Splendiani from the University of L’Aquila and San Salvatore Hospital (Italy)
Importantly, ASNR is hosting the 2026 American Society of Functional Neuroradiology Annual Meeting in October in Newport Beach, California. This event will include an entire pre-workshop day of focused ultrasound.
All content is still available on demand.
7th World Parkinson’s Congress
Just under 4,000 clinicians, researchers, industry representatives, patients, and caregivers from 62 countries attended the 7th World Parkinson’s Congress, which was held May 24–27, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona, and virtually. Hongchae ‘Iris’ Baek, PhD, a program manager at the Foundation, attended the conference and wrote the following summary:
The WPC highlighted the global commitment to advancing Parkinson’s disease research, clinical care, advocacy, and patient engagement. The congress stood out as a uniquely inclusive meeting with all stakeholders playing active and meaningful roles throughout the program.
One of the most distinctive and impactful components of the congress was the Roundtable Sessions. These specially designed sessions created opportunities for participants to engage directly with experts in small, intimate groups of approximately 12 people across a wide range of topics. The format encouraged open dialogue and in-depth discussion, allowing patients and caregivers to learn about emerging science while participating in meaningful conversations centered on lived experience and patient care. This highly interactive environment fostered valuable exchanges that are often difficult to achieve in larger lecture-style meetings.
Another major highlight was the Controversy Sessions, which brought together the broader congress audience to hear leading experts debate highly relevant and often divisive topics in Parkinson’s research. These live debates encouraged real-time audience participation through voting and interactive discussion, creating a dynamic and engaging educational experience. One particularly notable session focused on the question: “Is alpha-synuclein the central piece of the puzzle for Parkinson’s disease?” Audience voting was nearly evenly split, underscoring the ongoing controversy and uncertainty surrounding this topic within the field.
One session introduced MR-guided focused ultrasound lesioning as a symptom-relieving treatment for Parkinson’s disease, alongside deep brain stimulation (or “DBS”). Michele Matarazzo, MD, a neurologist and clinical researcher at HM CINAC in Madrid, Spain, discussed focused ultrasound-mediated blood-brain barrier opening as a potential disease-modifying strategy, positioning the technology as more than a symptomatic therapy platform.
Overall, the congress strongly reflected the field’s increasing emphasis on disease-modifying therapies. This direction aligns closely with the priorities of major Parkinson’s funding and advocacy organizations.
The 8th WPC will take place in three years. It is scheduled for June 26–29, 2029, in Québec City, Canada.
American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) 2026 Annual Convention
AIUM held its 2026 annual convention, “The Ultrasound Event,” from May 27–20 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a global gathering of more than 1,000 ultrasound clinicians, sonographers, radiologists, scientists, and industry professionals, the event includes hands-on learning labs, educational sessions, and keynote speakers across diverse ultrasound topics.
The Ultrasound in Immunotherapy session highlighted recent advances in contrast-enhanced ultrasound applications for drug delivery and immune system activation, including its potential to modulate the tumor microenvironment and enhance the efficacy of immunotherapies. Sarah Duclos, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Sheybani Laboratory at the University of Virginia (UVA), was invited to provide the immunotherapy overview.
“The topics of my talk included histotripsy and immunotherapy, focused ultrasound plus CAR T–cell therapy, sonodynamic therapy, and ongoing clinical trials at UVA,” said Dr. Duclos. “My talk was well received and sparked interesting conversation among the ~50 attendees of the session, including those who are familiar with the field in addition to those who are looking to become more involved. Many people were interested in the clinical translation of focused ultrasound combined with immunotherapy and how it can make an immediate positive impact on patients. Overall, I was thankful for the opportunity to attend and make new connections in the ultrasound world.”