Search results for "Focused ultrasound"
showing 10 items of 37 documents
Is there still a role for lesioning in functional neurosurgery? Preliminary Italian (and world-first) experience with a trans-cranial MRI-guided focu…
2015
Is Transcranial Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Focused Ultrasound a Repeatable Treatment Option? Case Report of a Retreated Patient With Tremor Co…
2019
Introduction In recent years, transcranial Magnetic Resonance Imaging-guided Focused Ultrasound (tcMRgFUS) treatments for functional neurological disorders are giving a new thrust to the field of therapeutic brain lesioning. Objective To present the case of a patient affected by tremor combined with Parkinsonism who underwent a second tcMRgFUS thalamotomy because of relapsing tremor after a few months from the first tcMRgFUS treatment. Methods A 72-yr-old, right-handed man, came to our observation because of a disabling tremor affecting his upper limbs, refusing any invasive surgical procedure and already treated by tcMRgFUS left Vim thalamotomy. However, clinical benefit had brief duration…
Direct activation of zebrafish neurons by ultrasonic stimulation revealed by whole CNS calcium imaging
2020
Abstract Objective. Ultrasounds (US) use in neural engineering is so far mainly limited to ablation through high intensity focused ultrasound, but interesting preliminary results show that low intensity low frequency ultrasound could be used instead to modulate neural activity. However, the extent of this modulatory ability of US is still unclear, as in in vivo studies it is hard to disentangle the contribution to neural responses of direct activation of the neuron by US stimulation and indirect activation due either to sensory response to mechanical stimulation associated to US, or to propagation of activity from neighboring areas. Here, we aim to show how to separate the three effects and…
Trans-cranial Magnetic Resonance-guided Focused UltraSound (tcMRgFUS) system integrated with a 1.5T: an SNR study on DQA phantoms
2018
Background: In recent years transcranial Magnetic Resonance-guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery (tcMRgFUS) treatments have been performed only using 3T units. Since following some internal analysis, planning images obtained using a 1.5T MRI’s body RF coil (as usually done with 3T systems) showed generally reasonable quality in terms of anatomy visualization and SNR but thermal images noise was above acceptable standard for treatments, a dedicated 2-channels head coil was developed (InSightec Ltd.) to ensure an adequate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Hence, we present the imaging protocol and the technological methods successfully used with the world-first installation of a certified tcMRgFUS sy…
TRANS-FUSIMO - clinical translation of patient specific planning and conduction of FUS treatment in moving organs
2015
The movement of the target challenges the application of high intensive focused ultrasound (HiFU/MRgFUS) for the treatment of malignancies in moving abdominal organs such as liver and kidney. Moreover, the anatomical location of the lesion is often behind the rib cage. The physiology of the organs, the dynamic and complex blood perfusion impairs the energy disposition in the tissue due to the heat transfer within the organ. To explore the full potential of extracorporeal FUS to safely and precisely destroy tissue in the depth of a moving organ requires sophisticated software and advanced hardware. In the EU project FUSIMO (http://www.fusimo.eu) a software demonstrator for the patient specif…
Is there still a role for lesioning in functional neurosurgery: the Italian experience of delivering focused ultrasound high energy through a 1,5 tes…
2017
Computer-Assisted Approaches for Uterine Fibroid Segmentation in MRgFUS Treatments: Quantitative Evaluation and Clinical Feasibility Analysis
2019
Nowadays, uterine fibroids can be treated using Magnetic Resonance guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery (MRgFUS), which is a non-invasive therapy exploiting thermal ablation. In order to measure the Non-Perfused Volume (NPV) for treatment response assessment, the ablated fibroid areas (i.e., Region of Treatment, ROT) are manually contoured by a radiologist. The current operator-dependent methodology could affect the subsequent follow-up phases, due to the lack of result repeatability. In addition, this fully manual procedure is time-consuming, considerably increasing execution times. These critical issues can be addressed only by means of accurate and efficient automated Pattern Recognition ap…
Combining split-and-merge and multi-seed region growing algorithms for uterine fibroid segmentation in MRgFUS treatments
2016
Uterine fibroids are benign tumors that can affect female patients during reproductive years. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) represents a noninvasive approach that uses thermal ablation principles to treat symptomatic fibroids. During traditional treatment planning, uterus, fibroids, and surrounding organs at risk must be manually marked on MR images by an operator. After treatment, an operator must segment, again manually, treated areas to evaluate the non-perfused volume (NPV) inside the fibroids. Both pre- and post-treatment procedures are time-consuming and operator-dependent. This paper presents a novel method, based on an advanced direct region detection model, …
Transcranial Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery for Brain Tumor Ablation: Are We Ready for This Challenging Treatment?
2018
The treatment of high-grade gliomas (HGGs) remains a challenge for modern therapy. The prognosis for these patients has been poor. The median patient survival after diagnosis has been ∼1 year with surgery and/or radiotherapy and temozolomide.1 The need for a histological diagnosis of tumor tissue in each case and the importance of decompression in symptomatic patients are well established, and extensive surgical resection has been shown to significantly prolong survival. Several factors play a role in the prognosis of patients with HGG, including age, performance status using the Karnofsky performance scale, and the extent of resection.2, 3 At present, the standard therapy for HHG consists …
TRANS-FUSIMO: Preliminary in-vivo animal results of MR-guided Focused Ultrasound of liver under respiratory motion
2018
Background: Treating liver tumors using FUS poses a great challenge due to the respiratory motion of the target and by the rib cage obscuring the anatomical location of the malignancy. In the EU FP7 project TRANS-FUSIMO (www.trans-fusimo.eu) a novel treatment software has been developed to support MR guided focused ultrasound treatment of liver lesions through electronic real-time beam steering of the ultrasound transducer. Prior to clinical use we conduct an in-vivo animal trial using the TRANS-FUSIMO treatment system (TTS) to evaluate the safety and the technical efficacy and efficiency of generation predefined necrotic lesions in the healthy liver. Material and Methods: The pre-clinical …