While Zurich trials have shown that MRguided ultrasound is an alternative to invasive surgical procedures for neuropathic pain, the procedure is approved in the U.S. for uterine fibroids. Meanwhile, clinical trials are conducted for brain disorders, tumors of the breast and the pain of bone metastases. The trials in the U.S. and overseas for Parkinson's disease, brain tumors and prostate cancer is expected to begin this year. A team of researchers from the MRCenter at the University Children # 39; s Hospital of Zurich recently completed a study using MRguided Focused Ultrasound, treatment of 10 patients with neuropathic pain. The origin of chronic pain in these patients include amputation phantom limb syndrome, post, nerve injury, stroke, trigeminal neuralgia and postherpetic neuralgia in herpes zoster. The study was funded in part by the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation, which funds research to clinical trials to try new therapeutic applications for MRguided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS), a procedure that is still in its infancy, but is expected to the wave of the future, it is not invasive and reduces or eliminates the need for surgery, with its many complications. Preliminary results in patients with neuropathic pain are consistent with conventional therapy radiofrequency ablation an invasive procedure that involves making an incision in the scalp, drilling a hole in the skull, inserting an electrode through normal brain tissue into the thalamus, and the use of radio to create the lesion. quot; The great leap forward is the integration of MRI with ultrasound enfocadoquot;, Rolf Taylor, director of communications for the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation, tells DOTmed News. quot; Focused Ultrasound is noninvasive. The source of ultrasound energy focused on this type of treatment the brain is outside the body, however, creates a focal point of energy deep in the cerebroquot, Taylor says. quot; The process heats the target tissue at the focal point of a very controllable, all the time monitoring using intraoperative MRI thermometry and MR.quot, Taylor said that MR technology has led to what he called quot; the advanced thermometer in mundoquot;. MR thermometry provides a detailed thermal map in real time, quot; dice.quot; For focused ultrasound generates heat, the medical team can see exactly what's happening in real time without having to perform invasive surgery. Thus, combining the traditional view of MRI to locate the target site for ablation, and MR thermometry, it is possible to precisely ablate the target tissue using focused ultrasound noninvasively while monitoring the proceedings, Taylor says. Millimeter precision and accuracy Neal Kassell, MD, a neurosurgeon at the University of Virginia, and chairman and founder of Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation, says DOTmed MR guided Focused Ultrasound is a way of treating disease with quot; precisi�nquot pinpoint accuracy and; . He said that the choice of target area of the surgery is performed with an MRI. While the treatment is happening, surgeons perform an analysis every one to two seconds, so they can see in real time precisely where to operate. Avoids ionizing radiation There are some similarities with radiosurgery both procedures focus energy from a source outside the head in a specific target site in the brain. However, focused ultrasound avoids some of the complications associated with ionizing radiation and, in theory, no exposure limits. In addition, the medical team can see the results of the intervention immediately. Radiation effects are not visible during the procedure, so it can not achieve the precision and accuracy than is possible with focused ultrasound explains Taylor. While mass trials MRguided ultrasound is approved in the U.S. for uterine fibroids, clinical trials currently underway of brain disorders, tumors of the breast and the pain of bone metastases, Dr. Kassell said. he says he also hopes that clinical trials in the U.S. and abroad performed for Parkinson's disease, brain tumors and prostate cancer this year. Dr. Kassell concludes that the focused ultrasound procedure, which does not require general anesthesia, may replace other forms of minimally invasive surgery and radiation therapy because the majority has a lower complication rate than surgery and does not use ionizing radiation . For example, says that some prostate cancer patients who have surgery have erectile dysfunction and incontinence. Focused ultrasound can reduce or possibly eliminate these complications. Source: Focused Ultrasound Foundation. br br
