UVA opens MR-guided focused ultrasound facility

The University of Virginia (UVA) Health System has opened a new MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) facility on the university's Charlottesville, Va. campus, which will be used for research, education and delivery of MRgFUS.

MRgFUS combines multiple waves of high-frequency ultrasound with MRI to direct treatment to a target site. According to UVA Health, MRgFUS can target treatment sites as small as 1 mm in diameter, and procedures are performed on an outpatient basis without general anesthesia, causing minimal discomfort and few complications.

The center is the first of 90 focused ultrasound sites around the world to use its MRgFUS equipment exclusively to perform research and treatments.

The facility has a fully-dedicated magnet, said James Larner, MD, chairman of UVA's department of radiation oncology and director of the new center, "meaning it will be used exclusively for MRgFUS research and treatments." Conducting research at the facility will be UVA specialists in fields such as anesthesiology, biomedical engineering, gynecology, neurology, neurosurgery, oncology, radiology and urology.

Beginning this month, the center will offer the one FDA-approved MRgFUS treatment to women with uterine fibroids. Clinical offerings will expand as focused ultrasound treatments for other conditions are developed and receive FDA approval.

Support for the facility has come from donations and grants from the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation, the Commonwealth of Virginia, InSightec and GE Healthcare.

Within the coming months, the facility’s research will focus on using MRgFUS to treat brain, breast, prostate, bone and liver tumors and conditions such as epilepsy, stroke, chronic pain, Parkinson's disease and essential tremor.

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