Bloodless, non-invasive treatment brain which aims to improve the lives of those suffering from essential tremor, depression, cancer and more. The process is called focused ultrasound (HiFu) and sends sound waves to parts of the brain, reprogramming the faulty brain circuits that cause these diseases.

“Focused ultrasound is a non-invasive therapeutic technology. We say it’s the loudest sound you’ve ever heard, but which one day can save your life, ”says the doctor. Neil Cassel, founder and president of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation.

He compares this technology with a magnifying glass which focuses the sun’s rays to burn the leaf of the plant. “We use an ‘acoustic lens’ to focus multiple ultrasonic beams on a target deep inside the head with a high degree of precision, without the need to make an incision,” he notes.

This procedure is especially helpful for people with idiopathic horrorneurological condition causing involuntary tremor (mostly by hand). The tremor usually occurs on one side of the body and gets worse with every movement. According to a 2021 study, it is most common in people over 40 and affects almost 25 million people worldwide.

In fact, the CNN article contains the testimony of an 80-year-old woman who suffered from idiopathic terror and decided to undergo ultrasound surgery at the University of Virginia. As the saying goes, within 44 seconds recovered from tremor.

How it works

Focused ultrasound belongs to the field of neurosurgery. It targets structures deep inside the brain to change it, restore function, or, in this case, stop the tremor. It is an alternative treatment for those who find conventional medicines ineffective.

“It’s just that you can imagine that some neurons in the target fire uncontrollably, causing trembling,” Kassel notes. In focused ultrasound technology, beams of sound waves are forced to converge at one point in order to raise the temperature and destroy tissue.

Before undergoing this treatment, patients must shave their heads. Then they do an MRI and a CT scan so the doctors know exactly where to target in the brain.

Some tests are done at low frequencies and doctors figure out how many beams to use. In the case of the aforementioned 80-year-old man, it took four 11-second bursts. The entire process took less than two hours, with brain mapping and testing taking up most of that time. Anesthesia and hospitalization are not required.

The procedure has been approved in the US since 2011.

Pros and cons

At best, the benefits of focused ultrasound are permanent. Nir Lipsman, a scientist at the Health Sciences Center in Sunnybrook, Toronto.

“If you can destroy the part of the brain that causes the tremor, the effect is usually irreversible. However, within a year, the tremor reappears in some patients, and we do not know why, as this can also occur with medication,” he comments.

According to a 2022 study, in other patients, again, the real benefit of the operation was after five years.

Proper mapping and testing is very important to avoid side effects. If the beam hits the wrong target, or for longer than necessary, the patient’s balance and stability may be affected.

“The most common risks are temporary numbness or tingling in the tremor-affected hand or lips. In most cases, this goes away with time,” says Lipsman.

Another common but also temporary side effect is leg instability.

Next Target: Depression

Today, this technology is used worldwide, either in clinical trials or officially approved. It has more than 170 clinical applications, including for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as tumors of the brain, breast, lung, prostate, etc., and the scope is constantly growing.

“You can see the result of the ultrasound treatment as you apply it. On the contrary, with irradiation, the results do not appear immediately, and they take weeks and months to appear, ”says Kassel.

Use for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder is the next step, according to a small 2020 study by Lipsman and a team of researchers who found the procedure safe and effective for improving symptoms.

However, more research is needed. The main limitation is that not everyone has the same skull.

“The density of the skull has a significant impact on the ability of ultrasound to pass through it. It’s rare, but there are patients who, no matter how hard we try, we can’t help because their skull doesn’t get ultrasound through. So that’s a limitation of a technology that we’re actively working on,” says Lipsman.

Focused ultrasound technology isn’t available for every disease, but experts hope this “well-kept secret of medicine” will one day become an accepted treatment.

“I believe that in 10 years this will become a common treatment that will benefit millions of patients every year around the world,” Kassel concludes.