Stroke will be treated with ultrasound
A method of ultrasound treatment of strokes has been createdMembrane Based on Technology Review: Busting Blood Cloths with Sound Waves
The technology developed by biologists from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) may become a new word in the treatment of strokes. For the first time, it is proposed to use a special non-contact method to combat blood clots (blood clots) blocking brain vessels.
A stroke develops due to a violation of the blood supply (and subsequent death) of a particular area of the brain. As a result, a person either loses the ability to perform certain actions, or even dies altogether. To overcome the pathological condition, sometimes it is enough to get rid of the clogged blood clot (blood supply will return to normal, functions will be restored).
Doctors mostly treat stroke and pre-stroke conditions using two approaches: surgical intervention and drugs that dissolve clots. Both methods have their drawbacks and can be prescribed only to a small number of patients.
The current study shows that there is another, more suitable for extensive use, method. The basis of the method was an ultrasound device created by the Israeli company InSightec. A cap is put on the patient's head, equipped with an array of more than a thousand transmitters that focus ultrasonic waves that pass freely through the skull on a small area of the brain (about four millimeters wide).
Previously, using this technology (called High Intensity Focused Ultrasound), scientists tried to remove diseased brain tissue. Now they are looking for another, more delicate use for it – breaking blood clots in the vessels of the brain.
However, so far the specialists have managed to train only on test tubes and animals. But by the end of 2011, they are going to start human trials. To do this, they will have to improve the current development somewhat.
In particular, they plan to prove that ultrasound waves do not damage healthy tissues located next to a blood clot (so far this has been shown only on rabbits and human corpses). Let's explain: scientists are afraid that the bones of the skull, being in some way an unpredictable substance, will still be able to change the direction of propagation of sound waves.
"I like this job, but I treat it with restrained optimism. In theory, everything looks beautiful, but there are still a lot of obstacles to overcome," comments Robert Siegel, an ultrasound specialist and cardiologist at Cedars—Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, who was not involved in this work.
Siegel in particular is not clear how doctors will determine the exact position of a blood clot in the brain. After all, without this information, it will be impossible to direct the waves to the place of impact.
However, the current team of scientists has something to answer to this: specialists from the University of Virginia are already working on combining the device from InSightec and magnetic resonance angiography.
Siegel also doubts the safety of the new method: he is concerned about the fact that ultrasound exposure leads to heating of tissues.
"Out of focus, the energy of ultrasound waves is negligible," says the head of the current study, neurologist Thilo Hoelscher. And yet this fact will be checked more than once.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru19.02.2010