Ultrasound on the Brain
April 21, 2015 | Terry Sharrer
In recent years Magnetic Resonance guided Focused Ultrasound has become increasingly successful in ablating small tumors and fibroids, usually in an outpatient setting. Now researchers at the Sunnybrook Research Institute (Toronto, Ont.) have used a modified version of this technology to temporarily open the blood brain barrier and treat symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. When microbubbles pass through the ultrasound beam they do several things—expanding the web of the BBB so more drugs can pass through, while reducing plaque and increasing neural plasticity through vibration. MORE
Image Credit: Sunnybrook Research Institute and MDRMag.com