Researchers and physicians at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) are the first in the world to use MRI-guided focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier and deliver chemotherapy in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), an aggressive and terminal pediatric brain tumour. The procedure was done as a safety and feasibility clinical trial in children with this tumour. The first pediatric patient recently successfully underwent the procedure as part of a safety and feasibility clinical trial in children with this tumour.
”Focused ultrasound is an innovative and non-invasive approach to more effectively delivering chemotherapy directly to the tumour. Our hope is that this continued research will bring us closer to enhancing treatments to help change the course of the disease.
Dr. Nir Lipsmanstudy co-principal investigator, neurosurgeon, and director of Sunnybrook’s Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation.
A challenge for treatment of DIPG is the blood-brain barrier, a protective network of cells, which can prevent therapeutics from reaching areas in the brain. In this Phase I clinical trial, low-intensity focused ultrasound technology is used to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier with the power of soundwaves, allowing drug treatment to cross and treat the brain tumour.
