Attractivity of robotic high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is based largely on the non-invasive, extremely precise nature of this high-tech robotic therapy as well as its clean, radiation free, surgical, but nevertheless, bloodless character. Today, in urological oncology, HIFU is used clinically as a therapeutic tool for the treatment of prostate cancer. Experimentally it is investigated...

BACKGROUND A new transcranial focused ultrasound device has been developed that can induce hyperthermia in a large tissue volume. The purpose of this work is to investigate theoretically how glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) can be effectively treated by combining the fast hyperthermia generated by this focused ultrasound device with external beam radiotherapy. METHODS/DESIGN To investigate the e...

Background/introduction Bone is highly relevant to focused ultrasound therapy, both as a potential treatment target and because it interferes with treatment of other organs such as the brain. It is challenging to image cortical bone using MRI, however, due to low water density and fast signal decay in bony tissues. Ultrashort echo time (UTE) imaging is a specialized MR technique that allows the...

Ultrasound (US) thermotherapy is used to treat tumours, located deep in human tissue, by heat. It features by the application of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), high local temperatures of about 90 degrees C and short treating time of a few seconds. Dosage of the therapy remains a problem. To get it under control, one has to know the heat source, i.e. the amount of absorbed US power, w...

A prototype Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LIFU) stimulator system was developed to evaluate non-invasive neuromodulation in a large animal model. We conducted a feasibility study on a Göttingen minipig, demonstrating reversible, targeted transcranial neuromodulation. The hypothalamus of the minipig was repeatedly stimulated with LIFU which evoked temporally correlated increases in both hear...

Analysis of Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Beam Profile Sensitivity for Neuromodulation of the Human Brain Jerel K. Mueller, Wynn Legon, and William J. Tyler* 1 School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 2 Dept. of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 3 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State...

Introduction Ultrasound is widely applied in the clinical field today, such as ultrasound contrast agent imaging, High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU), Extracorporeal Lithotripsy, sonodynamic therapy. Some of these have a close relation to the dynamic behavior of micro bubbles and that of a bubble cloud. In an ultrasound imaging, micro bubbles are used as contrast agents. Extracorporeal Foc...

R ecent developments in thrombolysis therapy using tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA) in combination with ultrasound for noninvasive stroke treatment are of great excitement. The first clinical trials have been successfully initiated, demonstrating the potential benefit of transcranial ultrasound in combination with tPA as an effective vessel recanalizing treatment strategy. 6–10 The use of tPA...