News — The Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation (FUSF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing new applications for and accelerating the worldwide adoption of magnetic resonance (MR)-guided focused ultrasound surgery, today announced that it has awarded Nathan McDannold, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Co-director of the Focused Ultrasound Lab with a research award to study new applications for this emerging technology.
"We are pleased to support the promising work proposed by Dr. McDannold with focused ultrasound technology," stated Neal F. Kassell, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia and the Founder and Chairman of the Foundation. "We believe that his research not only will help to identify and validate applications of MR-guided focused ultrasound technology, but also will shorten the time before this technology is widely available and used."
"We are delighted that the exceptional work of Dr. McDannold has been recognized by the FUSF through this research grant," remarked Ferenc Jolesz, M.D., the head of Image Guided Therapy Program. "Brigham and Women's Hospital has long been recognized as a pioneer in scientific and medical discoveries and we are pleased to be at the forefront of research into what could be a breakthrough technology for patients."
Dr. McDannold's research will test the effects of the heating associated with focused ultrasound on healthy nerve structures in the brain. The goal of this work is to enhance the ability to use focused ultrasound on tumors located at the base of the skull base near critical nerve structures. Tumors in this location are particularly difficult to treat currently because the skull absorbs heat more readily than tumor tissues. Dr. McDannold will examine the functional and structural effects of different amounts of heating on nerve tracts in the brain to establish safe levels. Once these levels are determined, MRI-based thermal imaging can then be employed to guide tumor ablation using focused ultrasound while ensuring that adjacent healthy nerve structures are not damaged.
The grant awarded to Dr. McDannold is part of a new research program offered by the FUSF that will fund studies, including preclinical research, small clinical trials, and pilot studies related to the basic science of focused ultrasound surgery and combination therapies that include focused ultrasound.
In addition to the research program, the FUSF is also offering a number of one-year, combined research and clinical fellowships in MR-guided focused ultrasound surgery to qualified applicants. These one-year fellowships include mentoring and an annual meeting of the fellows to share best practices and research insights.
FUSF is still accepting submissions for its fellowship and research programs. For more information, please refer to the Foundation's website:
Focused Ultrasound Technology Overview MR-guided focused ultrasound is a breakthrough technology based on the innovative marriage of focused ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. The application of focused ultrasound creates multiple intersecting beams of ultrasound energy which are focused with extreme precision on a target as small as one millimeter in diameter, while magnetic resonance imaging allows for the non-invasive identification and localization of the tissue to be targeted while enabling interactive treatment in real time and the immediate confirmation of the effectiveness of the therapy. MR-guided focused ultrasound technology has the potential to revolutionize the clinical approach to a host of human diseases, including:
- Non-invasive surgery for cancer and other tissue abnormalities, done on an outpatient basis without incision or general anesthesia, resulting in minimal discomfort, few complications, and more rapid patient recovery.- Targeting delivery of therapeutic molecules such as antibiotics, chemotherapy agents, genes, or growth factors in high concentrations specifically to the tissue site where they are needed, thus avoiding the systemic toxicity associated with other delivery methods. - Dissolving clots (thrombolysis) and thus restoring blood flow in blocked arteries, including those associated with stroke and related diseases, thus minimizing or even eliminating their destructive effects on normal tissue.
Biography for Nathan McDannold, Ph.D. Dr. Nathan McDannold, Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Co-Director of the Focused Ultrasound Lab in Boston, has pursued focused ultrasound research since 1996 and has published more than 50 articles and book chapters on the subject. His work to date has focused largely on developing MRI techniques to guide and monitor focused ultrasound procedures and developing methods for targeted drug delivery in the brain using ultrasound to temporarily disrupt the blood-brain barrier. Dr. McDannold is particularly interested in using focused ultrasound ablation as a noninvasive alternative to surgical resection or radiotherapy for brain tumors.
About the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation.The Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation was founded to minimize the time between the development of MR-guided focused ultrasound technology and the use of this technology in regular clinical practice for the benefit of patients. The Foundation was incorporated in October 2006 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The mission of the Foundation is to develop new applications for and accelerate the worldwide adoption of the technology, which it seeks to accomplish by engaging in a number of "accelerating" activities that supplement and compliment those of the MR and focused ultrasound equipment manufacturers.
The Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation is generously supported by industry, foundations, and individual donations. For more information about us, please visit our web site:
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 747-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 800 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $400M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit
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