Focused Ultrasound Enabling Regenerative Medicine

Joseph Frank, Chief of the Frank Laboratory in Radiology and Imaging Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently visited the Foundation to present a webinar about his team’s work using focused ultrasound to boost stem cell homing. Stem cells are often used in the field of regenerative medicine to help rebuild tissue that has been damaged or lost due to disease. Frank’s team has been using non-thermal, pulsed FUS to direct or “home” stem cells to a particular location in the body, creating a “transient molecular zip code” – a technique that could transform regenerative medicine.

 READ A PROFILE OF DR. FRANK >

 WATCH THE WEBINAR >

Therapeutic Ultrasound Featured at AAPM

Matt Eames, PhD, the Foundation’s Director of Extramural Research, presented on the physics, bioeffects, and applications of focused ultrasound (FUS) in radiation oncology at the Ultrasound Therapy and Imaging Symposium in Anaheim, California July 12-14. The symposium, a component of the annual American Association of Physicists in Medicine meeting, included a primer on FUS therapies, updates on image guidance, and new approaches.

UVA medical physicist David Schlesinger, PhD, co-presented the two-part session. Both talks are available on the AAPM website:

Symposium Abstracts Published

The abstracts from the Foundation’s 4th International Symposium, Current and Future Applications of Focused Ultrasound 2014, have now been published in a special supplement to the Journal of Therapeutic Ultrasound. Each abstract is available for download in PDF format, or the entire set can be accessed together.

READ THE ABSTRACTS >
 

Swiss Government to Create Focused Ultrasound Brain Treatment Registry

Researchers at the Center for MR Image-guided Focused Ultrasound at the University of Zurich Children’s Hospital are pioneering the development of focused ultrasound for the brain in Europe. Despite receiving the CE mark, the treatment is not yet widely accepted and is reimbursed only on a case-by-case basis. To obtain the data needed to include it in the national catalogue of reimbursable procedures, the government is initiating a registry to assess the cost and outcomes of focused ultrasound for pain and movement disorders. The registry begins in July and will follow patients for five years.

World's First FUS Treatment on Patient with Orthopedic Hardware

Researchers at Stanford University have been able to use MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) to treat a patient’s cancer pain in her right hip, after failed radiation and placement of orthopedic hardware.

Metal orthopedic implants can hinder the ability to visualize and target a treatment area with MRgFUS. Stanford radiologist Pejman Ghanouni, MD, PhD, and MRI physicist Brian Hargreaves, PhD, are collaborating on a project funded by a National Institutes of Health grant to develop ways of enabling MRgFUS treatment for patients with metal hardware. They have made advances that allow them to see the tumor and measure the treatment effect and are working on methods to make MR thermometry more reliable.

Focused Ultrasound as Treatment Option for Desmoid Tumors

Researchers at Stanford University recently completed a preliminary investigation, published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, using focused ultrasound to stop progression and/or cause regression of desmoid tumors located in the arms or legs. Five patients who were experiencing tumor-related symptoms or failure of conventional treatment received focused ultrasound. Four of the tumors regressed and one slightly progressed in size, but no patient received additional adjuvant systemic or local treatment. Although further investigation is needed, focused ultrasound may be a feasible non-invasive treatment for desmoid tumors and other soft tissue neoplasms--especially when limited traditional treatment options are available

Research Roundup

Recently published focused ultrasound (FUS) research includes:

• a comprehensive review of its use in treating the brain, including central neuropathic pain, essential tremor, Parkinsonian tremor, brain tumors, and temporary disruption of the blood-brain barrier for targeted drug delivery
• collaborative reviews on using FUS to treat breast cancer and uterine fibroids
• a study suggesting ultrasound contrast agents may enhance treatment of uterine fibroids

JTU Article of the Month: Breast Adenocarcinoma

Researchers at Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran, Iran evaluated the in vivo antitumor effect of dual-frequency, low intensity sonication plus a sonosensitizer for the treatment of spontaneous breast adenocarcinoma in a mouse model. Which regime of dose repetition and fractionation delayed tumor growth? 

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Bone Mets Treatment to be Reimbursed in 18 Additional States

More than 6.2 million members of Blue Cross Blue Shield in Massachusetts, Mississippi, Idaho, Arizona, and in the Wellmark group will now be covered for INSIGHTEC's ExAblate® focused ultrasound procedure for bone metastases, bringing the total number of US covered lives to approximately 32 million. These additions follow earlier affirmative policy changes.