High Intensity focused ultrasound
Focused ultrasound (FUS) has been receiving growing attention as a noninvasive brain stimulation tool because of its superior spatial specificity and depth penetrability. However, the large mismatch of acoustic properties between the skull and water can disrupt and shift the acoustic focus in the brain.
Park et al. developed an optimization method to place a single-element transducer that effectively transmits acoustic energy to the targeted region in the brain. Our numerical and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can provide an optimal transducer location for safe and efficient FUS treatment 1).
High Intensity focused ultrasound induces a temperature elevation and the tissue can be thermally destroyed. In fact, this approach has been tested in a number of clinical studies for the treatment of several tumors, primarily the prostate, uterine, breast, bone, liver, kidney and pancreas.
Although the concept of focused ultrasonography emerged more than 70 years ago, the need for a craniectomy obviated its development as a noninvasive technology.
see Transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound.