title: Focused ultrasound: relevant history and prospects for the addition of mechanical energy to the neurosurgical armamentarium.
abstract: Although the concept of focused ultrasonography emerged more than 70 years ago, the need for a craniectomy obviated its development as a noninvasive technology. Since then advances in phased array transducers and magnetic resonance imaging technology have resurrected the ultrasound as a noninvasive therapeutic for a plethora of neurological conditions ranging from embolic stroke and intracranial hemorrhage to movement disorders and brain neoplasia. In the same way that stereotactic radiosurgery has fundamentally changed the scope and treatment paradigms of tumor and specifically skull base surgery, focused ultrasound has a similar potential to revolutionize the field of neurological surgery. In addition, focused ultrasound comes without the general complexity or the risks of ionizing radiation that accompany radiosurgery. As the quest for minimally invasive and noninvasive therapeutics continues to define the new neurosurgery, the focused ultrasound evolves to join the neurosurgical armamentarium.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors: Eisha
authors: E
authors: Christian
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. Electronic address: echristi@usc.edu.
authors: Cheng
authors: C
authors: Yu
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors: Michael L J
authors: ML
authors: Apuzzo
mesh_terms: D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D057086:High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Ablation / Q000266:history* / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000639:trends*; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000266:history* / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000639:trends*; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000379:methods
keywords: Essential tremor; High frequency ultrasound; Pain; Sonoembolism; Stroke; Targeted tumor therapy; Tumor ablation; Ultrasound