Transcranial Ultrasound Innovations Ready for Broad Clinical Application

Brain diseases are one of the most important problems in our rapidly ageing society. Currently, there are not many effective medications and surgical options are limited due to invasiveness and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques cannot be well targeted and cannot access deep brain areas. A novel therapy is transcranial ultrasound which allows a variety of treatments without opening of the skull. Recent technological developments generated three revolutionary options including 1) targeted non-invasive surgery, 2) highly targeted drug, antibody, or gene therapy via local opening of the blood-brain barrier, and 3) highly targeted brain stimulation to improve pathological brain functions. This progress report summarizes the current state of the art for clinical application and the results of recent patient investigations.