MR-Guided Transcranial Focused Ultrasound

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Medical Imaging
• Acoustic Physics

Background:

• Focused ultrasound (FUS) is established for tissue ablation in treating uterine fibroids, prostate, and liver cancers.
• Non-invasive FUS brain treatment was historically challenging due to skull bone's reflective and refractive properties.
• Recent advancements in aberration correction techniques have enabled FUS to overcome these limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explain the aberration effects of skull bone on focused ultrasound.
• To detail non-invasive methods for correcting these skull-induced aberrations.
• To present current clinical outcomes and future non-thermal FUS approaches for brain therapy.

Main Methods:

• Review of aberration correction techniques for focused ultrasound transmission through the skull.
• Analysis of clinical data from thermal ablation procedures in the brain.
• Exploration of emerging non-thermal focused ultrasound methodologies.

Main Results:

• Successful clinical thermal lesioning in the thalamus has been achieved.
• Aberration correction techniques effectively mitigate skull bone interference.
• Novel non-thermal approaches show potential for future brain therapies.

Conclusions:

• Non-invasive focused ultrasound brain therapy is now clinically feasible.
• Aberration correction is key to overcoming skull bone challenges.
• Future non-thermal FUS techniques may offer revolutionary brain treatment options.