A review of potential applications of MR-guided focused ultrasound for targeting brain tumor therapy

Feb 2, 2018Neurosurgical focus

Possible uses of MRI-guided focused ultrasound for brain tumor treatment

AI simplified

mRNA Technology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) may enhance drug delivery to brain tumors by disrupting the blood-brain barrier.

MRgFUS can disrupt the blood-brain barrier, allowing drugs to enter specific areas of the brain.
Animal studies indicate that this method may increase the concentration of antitumor chemotherapy and immunotherapy delivered to brain tumors.
Combining MRgFUS with systemic drug delivery has been associated with increased median survival times in animal tumor models.
The use of liposomes, modified microbubbles, and magnetic nanoparticles with MRgFUS may improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy targeting brain tumors.
This approach could limit treatment toxicity to healthy brain tissue while enhancing drug delivery.

AI simplified

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) has been used extensively to ablate brain tissue in movement disorders, such as essential tremor. At a lower energy, MRgFUS can disrupt the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to allow passage of drugs. This focal disruption of the BBB can target systemic medications to specific portions of the brain, such as for brain tumors. Current methods to bypass the BBB are invasive, as the BBB is relatively impermeable to systemically delivered antineoplastic agents. Multiple healthy and brain tumor animal models have suggested that MRgFUS disrupts the BBB and focally increases the concentration of systemically delivered antitumor chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and gene therapy. In animal tumor models, combining MRgFUS with systemic drug delivery increases median survival times and delays tumor progression. Liposomes, modified microbubbles, and magnetic nanoparticles, combined with MRgFUS, more effectively deliver chemotherapy to brain tumors. MRgFUS has great potential to enhance brain tumor drug delivery, while limiting treatment toxicity to the healthy brain.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text (HTML) ↗View full text ↗

A review of potential applications of MR-guided focused ultrasound for targeting brain tumor therapy

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the mrna technology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the mrna technology brief