Focused ultrasound surgery (FUS) is a non-invasive (without any incision) technology that uses ultrasound rays focused deep within the body to ablate tissue. Ultrasound beams from transducers outside the body are focused to a point inside the body, raising the temperature of the focal region to cause tissue necrosis, while leaving surrounding tissue unaffected. The technique is used to treat cancers in the breast, prostate, liver, bone and brain. Recently, FUS has had notable success in reducing symptoms of movement disorders by ablating small regions in the brain. FUS in the brain is done under Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MR-guided FUS, MRgFUS) guidance to provide real-time temperature feedback about the focus and surrounding tissue for treatment control.

My work uses insights from Medical Physics with advanced computational methods to develop techniques so that we can treat patients with focused ultrasound surgery, as fast, as accurately and as safely as possible.

Some more information on the MR-guided FUS and its applications can be found here.