Meeting Report: STM 2018

Published:

The 35th Annual Meeting of the Society for Thermal Medicine (STM) was held May 7–10 in Tucson, Arizona. The Foundation helped sponsor this international event, which attracted over 100 attendees from the diverse fields of engineering, physics, materials science, and biology.

STM 2018 “This is a scientific meeting that generates ideas and connections between physics and biology,” said Foundation Scientific Programs Manager Kelsie Timbie, PhD, who attended the event. “It allows the Foundation to introduce researchers and clinicians interested in thermal therapies to focused ultrasound technology. We were particularly excited to see the high interest in immunotherapy applications this year.”

The selected focused ultrasound abstracts described two novel preclinical systems, quality assurance methodology, ultrasound beam modeling, and applications for brain, oncology, immunotherapy, and drug delivery.

STM’s 2018 Abstract Website lists the title, authors, and institutions for each abstract but does not provide data.

Focused Ultrasound Papers

A Method for Quality Assurance in Magnetic Resonance Imaging-guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (MRgHIFU) Mild Hyperthermia (MHT)
Lifei Zhu, Hong Chen, Yaoheng Yang, Michael Altman
Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.

The Feasibility of using Focused Ultrasound to Induce Hyperthermia through the Intact Skull 
Alec Hughes and Kullervo Hynynen
Sunnybrook Research Institute and the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Effect of Temperature Elevation on Short Duration Focused Ultrasound Hyperthermia Mediated Drug Delivery Using Thermosensitive Liposomes and Two-Photon Microscopy 
Marc Santos, David Goertz, and Kullervo Hynynen
Sunnybrook Research Institute and the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Safety and feasibility of MR-HIFU mild hyperthermia with radiation and chemotherapy for recurrent rectal cancer 
William Chu1,2, Yuexi Huang3, Samuel Pichardo4, Robert Staruch5, Ari Partanen5, Merrylee McGuffin1, Gregory Czarnota1,3,2, and Kullervo Hynynen3,2 
1Radiation Oncology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
2University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
3Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
4Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
5Profound Medical, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Microbubble-Assisted MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound for Hyperthermia at Reduced Power Levels 
Marc Santos1,2, Sheng-Kai Wu1,2, Zhe Li1, David Goertz1,2, Kullervo Hynynen1,2 
1Sunnybrook Research Institute 
2University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Preclinical MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound Robotic System 
Christakis Damianou
Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.

Poster 2 The Emerging Role of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) in Cancer Immunomodulation 
Islam Elhelf1,2, Hadia Abdelaal3,4, Abeer Almekkawy5, Hadeel Albahar6, and Mohamed Almekkawy6 
1University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
2Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
3University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA
4Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
5Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
6Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, PA, USA.

Poster 4 Transmit-only Receive-only Half-birdcage/Surface Coil Pair for MR-guided Focused Ultrasound Hyperthermia on Small Rodents 
Amanda Beserra1, Christopher Abraham1, Jak Loree-Spacek1, Samuel Pichardo2, and Laura Curiel2 
1Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
2University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Poster 5 Targetability of Osteomyelitis Using MR-guided Focused Ultrasound 
Amanda Beserra1, Samuel Pichardo2, Valentina Peeva3, David Kisselgoff3, and Laura Curiel2 
1Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
2University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
3Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Poster 7 Extending a Rapid Ultrasound Beam Modeling Method to Include Nonlinear Effects in HIFU 
Douglas Christensen, Scott Almquist, and Dennis Parker
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.