William Apoutou N'DJIN1, 2, Mathieu BURTNYK1, 3, Nir LIPSMAN4, Michael BRONSKILL1, 2, Michael SCHWARTZ4, Walter KUCHARCZYK3, Rajiv CHOPRA1, 2
1Imaging Research, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada; 2Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 3Department of Medical Imaging, University Health Network and the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 4Division of Neurosurgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
The feasibility of MRI-guided interstitial ultrasound therapy in brain was studied in-vivo in a porcine model. After the insertion of the therapeutic applicator into the brain, ultrasound heating was performed under MR-thermometry control in 5 animals. The procedure was well tolerated. This minimally-invasive approach allowed large and fast brain tissue ablations (~ 7 cm3 in less than 10 min ) with high spatial control of the heating (accuracy ~2 mm). Future investigations will focus on the targeting of specific brain structures/tumors and on the control in 3D of the heat deposition, with several applications for tissue ablation or drug delivery.