Ultrasound helmet' could treat Parkinson's non-invasively, study shows

"The device can target brain regions 1,000 times smaller than ultrasound can, and could replace existing approaches such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) in treating Parkinson's disease. It also holds potential for conditions such as depression, Tourette syndrome, chronic pain, Alzheimer's and addiction. Unlike DBS, which requires a highly invasive procedure in which electrodes are implanted deep in the brain to deliver electrical pulses, using ultrasound sends mechanical pulses into the brain."

"A study published in Nature Communications introduces a breakthrough system that can hit brain regions 30 times smaller than previous deep-brain ultrasound devices could. It is a head helmet with 256 sources that fits inside an MRI scanner, said the author and participant Ioana Grigoras, of Oxford University. It is chunky and claustrophobic putting it on the head at first, but then you get comfortable."

"To test the system, the researchers applied it to seven volunteers, directing ultrasound waves to a tiny region the size of a grain of rice in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), the key pathway for visual information that comes from the eyes to the brain. The waves reached their target with remarkable accuracy, the senior author Prof Charlotte Stagg of Oxford University said. That alone was extraordinary, and no one has done it before."

An ultrasound helmet uses 256 individually controlled sources to focus mechanical pulses inside the skull while fitting inside an MRI scanner. The system can target brain regions roughly 30 times smaller than prior deep-brain ultrasound devices and up to 1,000 times smaller than older ultrasound approaches, enabling millimeter-scale precision. Noninvasive mechanical stimulation reached a rice-grain-sized area in the lateral geniculate nucleus in human volunteers and produced lasting reductions in visual cortex activity. The approach contrasts with deep brain stimulation implants that insert electrodes, and it has potential applications for Parkinson's disease, depression, Tourette syndrome, chronic pain, Alzheimer's disease and addiction.

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