Focused Ultrasound Technology is a noninvasive treatment that uses ultrasound energy to focus on specific areas of the brain. This allows for the treatment of neurological disorders without having to open the skull. This technology has been used to treat various brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and depression. It minimizes the damage caused to healthy tissue while reducing side effects like complications and infection. Its use is limited because it’s difficult to accurately reflect the distortion of ultrasonic waves caused by different skull shapes.
Navigation systems that use medical images captured before treatment to determine the position of the ultrasonic transducer are used. They are however limited because they cannot account for the distortion caused by the head when it comes to ultrasound waves.
The team developed a medical navigation system based on images to test the technology and quickly deploy it in real-world practice. The system is able to provide acoustic simulators in real time at a rate of 5Hz, depending on the location of the transducer. It has also been able to predict the position and focus of the focused ultrasound energy within the brain during real-time.
Due to the lengthy calculation time, it was necessary to place the ultrasound transducer in a precise location before using the simulation results. With the newly developed simulation guided navigation system, it’s now possible to adjust ultrasound focus according to the real-time acoustic results. It is expected that in the future, the system will improve the accuracy and safety of focused ultrasound by being able quickly to respond to unexpected situations during treatment.
This technology has an average maximum acoustic-pressure error of less that 7%, and a focal-position error of less 6mm. Both are within the range of error for existing simulation technologies. The update time for three-dimensional simulation data reflecting changes in ultrasonic waves is also reduced from 14 seconds down to 0.1 second.
The study team created a medical navigation system based on images to test the technology’s functionality and implement it quickly in clinical settings. The system could predict the location of ultrasound energy and its focus in the skull when focused ultrasound therapy is being performed. It can also provide real-time audio simulations at 5Hz based on position of the transducer.
The long computation time meant that the transducer was carefully placed in a planned place, allowing the simulation results to be used. With the newly developed simulation-guided system, the ultrasound can be focused based on the real-time simulation results.
The future is expected to bring increased precision to focused ultrasound, and safe treatment for patients by allowing them to react quickly to any unforeseen events during the treatment.