October 2015 Research Roundup

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Recently published papers looked at skull-related issues in transcranial focused ultrasound, brain treatment envelope expansion using low-intensity, non-thermal, cavitation-enhanced ablation, and a fascinating history of the development of focused ultrasound in the 1950s.

researchroundupIn Factors associated with successful magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound treatment: efficiency of acoustic energy delivery through the skull, Jin-woo Chang and his group analyzed skull-related issues that may prevent increases in target area temperatures in patients who undergo transcranial FUS.

Nathan McDannold and the Brigham and Women’s group are studying the use of low-intensity, non-thermal ablation of skull base targets. According to Cavitation-enhanced nonthermal ablation in deep brain targets: feasibility in a large animal model, if the group can develop control methods to avoid inertial cavitation in the acoustic beam path, “a non-thermal approach could greatly expand the use of FUS for precisely targeted ablation to locations across the entire brain.”

For entrepreneurial thinkers: Before Floyd Dunn’s passing this year, he and Bill O’Brien from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign published an account of the circumstances in the 1950s that led the Fry brothers to create and validate “ultrasonic neurosurgery.” An Early History of High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound was published in Physics Today.