State of the Technology

Focused ultrasound has the potential to transform the treatment of a variety of serious medical conditions.

All indicators point toward the evolution of this platform technology into a robust medical field, with the pace of research and development, publications, patient treatments and the number of device manufacturers all increasing rapidly in the past few years.

The Foundation produces its own State of the Field Report each year to chart the technology’s progress around the world.

Research, Development, and Commercialization

Some applications of the technology are approved for commercial use and are available in medical treatment centers around the world.  Other uses are still undergoing research, with opportunities for patients to participate in clinical trials at leading medical research institutions.  Even more potential uses of the technology are in the early stages of technical research.

The following chart summarizes the state of research and regulatory approval of focused ultrasound for more than 170 medical conditions around the globe.

Status by disease category

Patients Treated

With nearly 100,000 patients treated last year alone, the field has now exceeded 500,000 cumulative patient treatments. IN 2022, pancreatic cancer was the leading cancer indication, with 24,000 patients treated. Uterine fibroids and liver tumors rounded out the top three. Although representing a small portion of the total number of treatments, there has been a ten-fold increase in brain treatments over the past five years.