Different ultrasound technique

brain diseases are too big to easily pass.

The new approach: Scientists inject microscopic bubbles into the bloodstream. Through an MRI scanner, they aim at a precise brain area. Then they beam ultrasound waves through a helmetlike device to that spot. The pulses of energy make the microbubbles vibrate, loosening those zipperlike junctions in hopes that medications could slip inside.

Within minutes, Lipsman’s team saw a medical dye appear on the Alzheimer’s patients’ brain scans – proof the barrier opened. A repeat scan the next day showed it was closed again. Patients repeated the procedure a month later.

Researchers reported no serious side effects, and no worsening of cognitive function. The study was funded by the nonprofit Focused Ultrasound Foundation.

“It’s not painful or anything,” said Rick Karr of Everett, Ontario, the study’s first participant.

A retired truck driver and amateur musician, Karr was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2011. Doctors made clear the study wouldn’t treat his memory problems, but “I feel privileged,” Karr said in an interview. “I could help somebody else down the road.”

A French company, CarThera, is testing a different ultrasound technique for brain tumors, using an implant attached to the skull during surgery.

For the non-invasive ultrasound, device maker InSightec has Food and Drug Administration permission to begin the Maryland tumour trial and a small U.S. Alzheimer’s study.

This time, scientists will aim deeper into Alzheimer’s-affected brains to a key memory region, said lead researcher Dr. Ali Rezai of West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. And they’ll measure if simply opening the barrier could help the body clear away sticky plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, after mouse studies suggested that’s a possibility.

But by far the bigger interest is in using ultrasound to deliver drugs – if the next-step studies conclude it’s safe to try.

“The blood-brain barrier’s no longer off-limits,” Rezai said.