Jiefang Daily · Shangguan News: A First in China—Fudan and Huashan Explore an Ultrasound Brain–Computer Interface to Open the Blood–Brain Barrier in Three Minutes for Glioma Drug Delivery
Ultrasound can not only diagnose diseases, but can also be grafted into brain-computer interfaces to achieve more possibilities!
At the launch conference for “Technology Research and Prototype Development of an Ultrasound Brain–Computer Implant System for Integrated Brain Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment,” a Jiefang Daily · Shangguan News reporter learned of clinical trial data from Fudan University and Huashan Hospital. Using UltraBrainPad, an integrated ultrasound diagnostic and treatment device independently developed in China, the team opened the blood–brain barrier in patients with glioblastoma to deliver treatment drugs, increasing drug concentrations in the brain. This was reportedly the first clinical application in China to demonstrate a clear effect using this technology, with the prospect of benefiting more patients with glioblastoma in the future.
Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant tumor in the central nervous system and is considered one of the most difficult cancers to treat. The clinical pain point is that the special existence of the blood-brain barrier prevents most drugs from entering the tumor to kill tumor cells. Therefore, the overall treatment effect lags far behind that of lung cancer, breast cancer and other body tumors.
Professor Mao Ying, President of Huashan Hospital, explained: Low-frequency focused ultrasound is a special ultrasound treatment method. Scientists in the United States and Canada were the first in the world to use this technology to open the blood-brain barrier of glioblastoma patients, significantly increasing the concentration of chemotherapy drugs entering the brain and significantly extending the patient's survival time.
The so-called blood-brain barrier is a selective barrier formed by the human brain between blood and brain tissue. Its main function is to protect the brain from the invasion of harmful substances while maintaining the stability of the brain environment. Mao Ying explained to reporters that the blood-brain barrier in the human brain plays a protective role, but when brain diseases occur, the blood-brain barrier becomes an obstacle for drugs to enter the brain. If the blood-brain barrier can be opened to allow drugs to enter smoothly, and then the blood-brain barrier can be closed immediately, many brain diseases can be treated. This novel approach has also been demonstrated in basic and clinical studies.
Experts further elaborated that low-frequency focused ultrasound is currently a cutting-edge key technology in the treatment of serious brain diseases. It has broad application prospects in many fields such as opening the blood-brain barrier, neural regulation, and brain-computer fusion. In particular, the application of opening the blood-brain barrier is considered to be expected to "turn waste into treasure" and turn a large number of brain disease treatment drugs that cannot penetrate the blood-brain barrier from "ineffective" to "effective."
This time, the scientific research team of Fudan University and Huashan Hospital, through preliminary in vitro and animal experiments, formulated the optimal technical parameters for ultrasound opening of the blood-brain barrier, which can quickly open the blood-brain barrier in just 3 minutes. Compared with brain tissue without an open blood-brain barrier, the drug concentration can be increased by an average of 8 times, and the blood-brain barrier can be closed 6 hours after treatment. The efficacy and safety are better than relevant international reports.
Professor Shi Zhifeng of the Department of Neurosurgery of Huashan Hospital said that there are currently two technical paths for opening the blood-brain barrier using low-frequency focused ultrasound technology. The first is to implant a phase-coordinated array ultrasound probe in the brain. This technology has poor controllability and carries the risk of infection. The second is external focused ultrasound treatment under magnetic resonance guidance. This is a non-invasive technology, but it has problems of insufficient accuracy, high cost and inconvenient operation. The third is the "Chinese solution", which is completely based on the semi-invasive technology of ultrasound. A small handheld ultrasound probe observes the situation inside the patient's brain. The ultrasound image is displayed in real time on the UltraBrainPad screen. The doctor can touch multiple treatment targets on the screen and start the ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier in all target areas at the same time. It is easy to operate, cost-saving and highly accurate. With AI image recognition technology, the opening degree of the blood-brain barrier can be visually observed, which is safe and reliable. This operation can also complete the relevant treatment process in primary hospitals.
It is reported that in the next step, Dean Mao Ying/Professor Shi Zhifeng of the Department of Neurosurgery of Huashan Hospital will also launch a clinical study of "ROAR-BBBO" to treat patients with recurrent glioblastoma. ROAR is translated as "roaring" in Chinese. It borrows from the traditional Chinese martial arts "Lion's Roar Kung Fu" and uses ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier to help chemotherapy drugs enter the brain and maximize the destruction of brain tumors.
The implementation of this technology represents the first step taken by the project team. Project leader Professor Yu Jinhua of Fudan University said: "The future project will focus on creating a new track for ultrasound brain-computer interface, which will not only be used in the drug treatment of brain tumors, but also realize the application and transformation of scientific research results in aspects such as neural regulation and brain-computer fusion, bringing good news to patients with Alzheimer's disease, headaches, insomnia and other brain diseases."