Key Points
- During UltraCon 2024 in Austin, Texas, from April 6–10, the Foundation hosted a special session on histotripsy.
- Dr. Christy Holland won the prestigious William J. Fry Memorial Award, and Dr. Amir Manbachi was recognized for his contributions to medical student education.
This year, AIUM held UltraCon from April 6–10 in Austin, Texas. UltraCon is an annual event that gathers clinicians, researchers, and industry professionals in the field of medical ultrasound. This year’s conference featured keynote addresses from two industry luminaries: Dr. Omar Ishrak (Chairman of the Board at Intel, former CEO of Medtronic) and Dr. Gil Weinberg (musician inventor of experimental musical instruments and musical robots). UltraCon also showcased the latest innovations in ultrasound technology and highlighted several applications of focused ultrasound, including histotripsy.
“During his keynote, Omar Ishrak used half of his time to talk about therapeutic ultrasound, especially the use of focused ultrasound for neurological applications and blood-brain barrier opening,” said Frédéric Padilla, PhD, who directs the Foundation’s applied physics research and Gene Therapy Program and attended the meeting. “Beyond the keynote addresses, artificial intelligence and wearables were main themes of the conference.
Notably, AIUM’s pre-meeting press release highlighted “…insights on the application of high-intensity ultrasound as a direct form of therapy, and how the innovative combination of high-intensity ultrasound with pharmaceutical approaches—like liquid biopsy and the increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier—can revolutionize patient care.”
Furthermore, to emphasize the importance of focused ultrasound for the AIUM community, Dr. Padilla recently wrote a post for “The Scan,” AIUM’s official blog, where he discussed The Transformative Power of High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound.
Focused Ultrasound Highlights
On Sunday, April 7, Dr. Padilla and J. Brian Fowlkes, PhD, professor of radiology at the University of Michigan, moderated a special session on histotripsy titled “Bursting Bubbles for Therapy: Histotripsy’s Clinical Frontiers and Technological Innovations with the 2023 FDA Approval.” During the session, Timothy Ziemlewicz, MD, professor of radiology at the University of Wisconsin, presented the clinical updates on histotripsy while Kenneth Bader, PhD*, assistant professor of radiology at the University of Chicago, presented technical updates on histotripsy. The speakers then participated in a lively panel discussion.
“The special session on histotripsy inspired a great discussion,” said Dr. Padilla. “This session, the focused ultrasound presentations, and the awards given to Christy Holland, PhD, and Amir Manbachi, PhD*, were highlights for me and for the focused ultrasound community.”
Additional focused ultrasound presentations at UltraCon 2024 included:
Basic Science and Instrumentation
- Carolyn Bayer, PhD, (Tulane University), Junjie Yao, PhD, (Duke University), and Jerzy Szablowski, PhD*, (Rice University) were the presenters in the Molecular and Cellular Ultrasound session.
Ultrasound in Neuroscience: Sensing, Imaging, Modulation, and/or Therapy
- Misun Hwang, MD, MS, (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) presented Pediatric Gene Therapy using Focused Ultrasound.
- Tommaso Di Ianni, PhD*, (University of California San Francisco) presented Towards Precision Neurointervention: Ultrasound Advances for Functional Imaging and Targeted Neuromodulation.
- Hong Chen, PhD*, (Washington University of St. Louis) presented Breaking the Barriers: Transforming the Molecular Diagnosis of Brain Diseases through Ultrasound.
Prostate Cancer 2024: Diagnosis and Management in a New Era
- Sandeep G. Mistry, MD, MPH, MBA, (North Austin Urology Associates) presented HIFU and Prostate Cancer 2024.
CEUs for Treatment and Drug Delivery
- J. Brian Fowlkes, PhD, (University of Michigan) presented Ultrasound-Assisted Drug Delivery: Concepts, Applications, and New Directions.
- Mark A. Borden, PhD*, (University of Colorado) presented MB+FUS for Drug Delivery in a Mouse Model of Diffuse Midline Glioma.
- Flemming Forsberg, PhD, (Thomas Jefferson University) presented Sonoporation and UTMD for Augmenting Cancer Treatments.
Therapeutic Ultrasound Scientific Session
- John R. Eisenbrey, PhD*, (Thomas Jefferson University) presented Hemostasis of Liver Lacerations using Contrast-Enhanced, Ultrasound-Guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound.
Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound
- Hailee Mayer, BS (Drexel University and Thomas Jefferson University) presented Subharmonic-Aided Pressure Estimation (SHAPE) of Pancreatic Adenocarcinomas Undergoing Chemotherapy with Sonoporation – Preliminary Results.
- Flemming Forsberg, PhD, (Thomas Jefferson University) presented Sonoporation for Disrupting the Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Microenvironment to Enhance Chemotherapy Delivery: Interim Analysis of an Ongoing Clinical Trial.
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*Investigators who have previously been funded or who are currently funded by grants from the Focused Ultrasound Foundation
Award Winners
Christy K. Holland, PhD, professor of Internal Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, received the prestigious William J. Fry Memorial Award. The title of her lecture for the William J. Fry Memorial Lecture was “Ultrasound Image-Guided Catheter-Directed Therapies to Treat Cardiovascular Disease.”
Amir Manbachi, MSc, PhD, an assistant professor of Neurosurgery, Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical, and Computer Engineering, Anesthesiology, and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, received the Peter Arger Excellence in Medical Student Education Award.
All award winners were announced in an AIUM press release.
The next AIUM annual meeting, UltraCon 2025, will be held March 25 through April 1, 2025. Its abstract deadline is September 17, 2024. Submit an Abstract