ABSTRACT

This chapter introduces the emerging therapeutic applications of transcranial magnetic resonance imaging-guided focused ultrasound (FUS) as a new mode of noninvasive brain stimulation modality. It describes the intriguing new potential of functional neuromodulation in the brain. FUS, with its exquisite ability to deliver acoustic energy to the region-specific brain area with excellent depth penetration, is utilized in the implementation and demonstration of this new innovative modality. For almost a century, the phenomenological evidence of ultrasound interactions with biological tissues, including ultrasonic neuromodulation, has been demonstrated. Localized transcranial delivery of acoustic energy to the neural structures located deep within the brain and the cortical areas is crucial for achieving region-specific functional brain modulation. The advancement of magnetic resonance and high-resolution ultrasound imaging technologies provided major breakthroughs in the early 1990s enabling more accurate guidance of the FUS stimulation to a localized tissue region.