High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound
Innovative, Non-invasive Therapeutic Technology
High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), also referred to as Focused ultrasound (FUS), has generated a lot of interest in the past few years as a non-invasive cancer treatment that doesn’t require chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery, resulting in significantly less harm to the patient. HIFU is performed as an outpatient procedure, which eliminates the typical two weeks of recovery time usually required after most types of surgery.
The Basic Principles of High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound
The Focused Ultrasound Foundation has described the principle of high-intensity focused ultrasound as being similar to using a magnifying glass to direct beams of sunlight on a specific point in order to burn a hole in a leaf. With high-intensity focused ultrasound, an acoustic lens is utilized to focus several intersecting beams of ultrasound on a target that is deep in the body with intensive precision. The beams don’t affect the sections they pass through however, at the focal point where the beams converge, the focused ultrasound energy of the beams result in tissue ablation.
Treatment Areas
High-intensity focused ultrasound is an important and growing application in a variety of areas, employing a range of modalities that include tissue destruction, neuro-stimulation and modulation, drug delivery, stem cell honing and immunomodulation. It expands into numerous treatment areas as a highly effective, research, and non-invasive therapeutic technology as well as an alternative to chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery, as mentioned above. It is also used in a range of clinical areas that include oncology, endocrinology, cardiology and women’s health.
FDA Approved
In the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared high-intensity focused ultrasound to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate cancer, uterine fibroids, bone metastases, prostate cancer, and essential tremor. Outside the United States, there are more regulatory approvals for liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer, soft tissue tumors, thyroid nodules, Parkinson’s disease, back pain, osteoid osteoma, uterine adenomyosis, breast fibroadenomas, and neuropathic pain.
Verasonic’s Vantage System
The Vantage system from Verasonics is used today at numerous institutions and companies worldwide for high-intensity focused ultrasound product development and research. The Vantage 64LE, 128 and 256 systems are available in high intensity focused ultrasound configurations, enabling both energy delivery and imaging utilizing the same transmitters for comprehensive and flexible exploration with focused ultrasound. Verasonics’ new FUS Portfolio provides superior quality focused ultrasound research solutions suited for a wide array of applications and budgets.
To find out more about the FUS portfolio and how it advances biomedical research in high intensity focused ultrasound, click here.