MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is a non-invasive procedure in which a predefined small volume of deep brain tissue is precisely ablated with middle frequency sonication (thermal effect; 650 kHz). It is performed while the patient is awake without incisions and burr-holes through the skull. During the procedure, sites are anatomically targeted by T2W images and dynamically monitored for temperature. Although current clinical studies are mainly devoted to movement disorders including essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease and focal hand dystonia, encouraging preliminary results has been reported for epilepsy, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and neuropathic pain. Technology is expanding to blood brain barrier disruption with low power and low frequency sonication (non-thermal effect; 250 kHz) with use of injected micro bubbles for brain tumour and Alzheimer’s disease. This course is designed to provide an introduction of the current status of MRgFUS clinical application in the brain. Given the challenges of accessing the brain, this non-invasive technology has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of many brain disorders.

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References

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