a-high-throughput-image-guided-stereotactic-neuronavigation-focused

A High-Throughput Image-Guided Stereotactic Neuronavigation and Focused Ultrasound System for Blood-Brain Barrier Opening in Rodents

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) has been a major hurdle for the treatment of various brain diseases. Endothelial cells, connected by tight junctions, form a ...

Utrecht University

MRI-guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (MRI-HIFU) is a promising method for the non-invasive ablation of pathological tissue in many organs, including mobile organs such as liver and kidney. The possibility to locally deposit thermal energy in a non-invasive way opens a path towards new therapeutic strategies with improved reliability and reduced associated trauma, leading to improved efficacy, reduced hospitalization and costs. Liver and kidney tumors represent a major health problem because not all patients are suitable for curative treatment with surgery. Currently, radio-frequency is the most used method for percutaneous ablation. The development of a completely non-invasive method based on MR guided high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatments is of particular interest due to the associated reduced burden for the patient, treatment related patient morbidity and complication rate. The objective of MR-guidance is hereby to control heat deposition with HIFU within the targeted pathological area, despite the physiological motion of these organs, in order to provide an effective treatment with a reduced duration and an increased level of patient safety. Regarding this, several technological challenges have to be addressed: Firstly, the anatomical location of both organs within the thoracic cage requires inter-costal ablation strategies, which preserve the therapeutic efficiency, but prevent undesired tissue damage to the ribs and the intercostal muscle. Secondly, both therapy guidance and energy deposition have to be rendered compatible with the continuous physiological motion of the abdomen. 

MRI-Guided HIFU Methods for the Ablation of Liver and Renal Cancers.

To evaluate the dosimetric sparing and robustness against inter-fraction anatomical changes between photon and proton dose distributions for children with abdominal tumors.

Evaluating the benefit of PBS vs. VMAT dose distributions in terms of dosimetric sparing and robustness against inter-fraction anatomical changes for pediatric abdominal tumors.

Mario Ries

Imaging Division

Utrecht University

A High-Throughput Image-Guided Stereotactic Neuronavigation and Focused Ultrasound System for Blood-Brain Barrier Opening in Rodents