Brain Surgery Done With Sound

[n2doc]

By Bill Christensen , Technovelgy.com
posted: 28 July 2009 01:53 pm ET

Focused ultrasound surgery has now been performed successfully on nine human patients, according to a preliminary study done in Switzerland. Thirty years ago, this kind of technique was science fiction; today, it is science fact.

The work was reported by MIT's Technology Review.

"The groundbreaking finding here is that you can make lesions deep in the brain--through the intact skull and skin--with extreme precision and accuracy and safety," says Neal Kassell, a neurosurgeon at the University of Virginia. Kassell, who was not directly involved in the study, is chairman of the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation, a nonprofit based in Charlottesville, VA, that was founded to develop new applications for focused ultrasound.

The Swiss study tested the technique on nine patients with chronic debilitating pain. The traditional treatment involves destroying a small part of the thalamus, a structure that relays messages between different brain areas. In the past, this has been accomplished with radio frequency ablation, in which a probe is inserted into the skull, or with radio surgery which focuses radiation on the area. Surgeons believe that the new technique will be faster-acting and more precise than the current methods.

more:

http://www.livescience.com/health/090728-sound-surgery.html

[RandomThoughts]

1. Whew, I am really lucky I have my...

:tinfoilhat:

[elocs]

2. Most heavy metal music fans know this already and have experienced it. n/t

[RandySF]

3. And under the Max Baucaus plan

No one will be able to afford it.

[FirstLight]

4. I wonder ...

if this could be used to operate on previously "inoperable" brain issues...arachnoid cysts being one of the fiorst that ome to mind...

if they could use this technique it could mean the end of invasive brain surgery on all types of problems...cysts, tumors, etc...

[gulfcoastliberal]

5. Good to see some spinoffs from the MKULTRA programs. lol nt