How would MR-guided focused ultrasound transform the treatment of cancer?
MR-guided ultrasound advances the treatment of cancer in three ways. First, it can be used to eliminate benign tumor tissue with absolute precision, leaving the normal surrounding tissues and organs unaltered. Second, it provides a dramatic advance over radiation therapy. There is no cumulative dose effect, no limitation in lesion size, no limitation on the number of treatments, and no secondary tumors caused by the radiation itself. Finally, for malignant tumors, it has the potential to greatly increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy, though systems that allow high-dosages of chemotherapy to be released only at the target site. In essence, MR-guided focused ultrasound has the potential to convert metastatic cancer from a lethal to a chronic, treatable disease.
