Brain

This work aims to improve on the patient comfort and reduce the reliance on intraoperative magnetic resonance image (MRI) guidance for transcranial focused ultrasound therapy. We present a technique for the automated design of a scaffold to house re-usable ultrasound transducers. The scaffold can be optimised for patient-specific brain targets and to conform to the patient’s head. We demonstrated the feasibility of our system by way of numerical simulations and in-vivo testing in rodents. Our results demonstrated that the device could achieve focus through the human skull and safely open the blood-brain-barrier. Skull-conformal phased arrays stand to improve patient comfort and have the potential to accelerate the adoption of transcranial FUS therapy by improving access to the technology. read more