Key Points
- The annual meeting of the CNS was held October 16-20 in Austin, Texas.
- Focused ultrasound presentations included current indications, clinical trials, and preclinical research.
- Suzanne LeBlang, MD, presented recent advances in focused ultrasound for treating brain tumors.
The AANS/CNS Tumor Section 2021 meeting and the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) were held in person October 2021, in Austin, Texas.
The Foundation helped sponsor the AANS/CNS Tumor Section meeting, and Suzanne LeBlang, MD, Director of Clinical Relationships, presented a 10-minute video on what is new in the use of focused ultrasound for treating brain tumors. She covered research using focused ultrasound for blood-brain barrier opening and drug delivery, radiation sensitization, and sonodynamic therapy to treat glioblastomas. She also addressed focused ultrasound–enhanced liquid biopsy for the diagnosis and monitoring brain tumors. The presentation also featured data from recent clinical trials using the Insightec, NaviFUS, and CarThera devices, which each use a different method for guidance.
“This meeting provided great access for practicing neurosurgeons from around the world to learn more about focused ultrasound,” said Dr. LeBlang. “These clinicians were interested in learning more about the various mechanisms of action by which focused ultrasound could be used in the armamentarium to treat brain tumors.”
“The 2021 AANS/CNS Tumor Section meeting and the 2021 CNS meetings included a number of presentations on focused ultrasound topics including current indications, clinical trials, and preclinical research,” said Jason Sheehan, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia, and the Foundation’s Senior Advisor for Brain Tumor Research. “The presentations on tumor-related focused ultrasound topics generated a lot of enthusiasm on the part of neurosurgeons.”
At the CNS meeting, there were also many tumor-related talks on emerging technological applications including focused ultrasound.
There were also a number of awards presented for scientific research in such fields as brain tumors and cerebrovascular neurosurgery. A project by Vibhor Krishna, MD, and Francesco Sammartino, MD, from the Department of Neurosurgery at The Ohio State University, and Foundation team members John Snell, PhD, and Matt Eames, PhD, was awarded best poster for stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. Read “Thermal Neuromodulation with Focused Ultrasound: Implications for the Technique of Subthreshold Testing.”
The Tumor Section and the CNS Meetings provide continuing medical education for practicing neurosurgeons, neurosurgical residents in training, and postgraduate neurosurgical fellows, as well as advanced practice providers including nurses, physician assistants, and clinical specialists. Multidisciplinary colleagues including radiation oncologists, neuro-oncologists, neuropathologists, and radiologists also regularly attend this meeting.