Treatment of brain diseases using ultrasound

Researchers in a country have reportedly succeeded in injecting drugs into the brain using ultrasound.

In general, it is difficult to inject drugs into the brain. The brain has a blood-brain barrier, which is responsible for the reliable protection of the central nervous system from microorganisms and toxins circulating along the blood.

However, this blood-brain barrier prevents drug penetration, which is a challenge for the treatment of diseases. This is particularly urgent matter for the treatment of glioblastoma and other kinds of brain cancer that require chemotherapy.

Based on the study of the properties of weak ultrasound, researchers thought if this might help to treat brain cancer. Researchers have installed a small instrument that produces weak ultrasound in the the patients’ skull by surgery. One to two weeks later, researchers started to operate the device and inject microcapsules into the patient's blood.

The results demonstrated that the blood-brain barrier was temporarily opened by the action of weak ultrasound, and that drugs in microcapsules could penetrate the brain.