Feasibility of noninvasive cavitation-guided blood-brain barrier opening using focused ultrasound and microbubbles in nonhuman primates

Appl Phys Lett. 2011 Apr 18;98(16):163704. doi: 10.1063/1.3580763. Epub 2011 Apr 20.

Abstract

In vivo transcranial and noninvasive cavitation detection with blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening in nonhuman primates is hereby reported. The BBB in monkeys was opened transcranically using focused ultrasound (FUS) in conjunction with microbubbles. A passive cavitation detector, confocal with the FUS transducer, was used to identify and monitor the bubble behavior. During sonication, the cavitation spectrum, which was found to be region-, pressure-, and bubble-dependent, provided real-time feedback regarding the opening occurrence and its properties. These findings demonstrate feasibility of transcranial, cavitation-guided BBB opening using FUS and microbubbles in noninvasive human applications.