High-intensity focused ultrasound, the technology used in the Fry brothers’ treatment, is already approved for several medical conditions, including uterine fibroids, certain types of prostate cancer, and medication-resistant Parkinson’s disease symptoms. Researchers are also studying whether low-intensity focused ultrasound can safely influence neural activity deep within the brain.
Focused ultrasound’s ability to reach deep brain structures without incisions or drilled holes is what excites Rezai and his colleagues. Other noninvasive brain-stimulation methods, including transcranial magnetic stimulation, primarily affect the brain’s outer layers. They cannot reach the nucleus accumbens, a pea-sized region involved in the brain’s reward system and a key target in addiction research. Rezai wanted to determine whether focused ultrasound could reach it safely.
In 2021, with authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, Rezai and his team at West Virginia University began an exploratory clinical trial to evaluate the safety of focused ultrasound for people with addiction. The researchers used an FDA-approved device designed to deliver high-intensity ultrasound, but operated it at a much lower power level. They began with a low dose and gradually increased the intensity.
Rezai did not know how long the effects of a single ultrasound treatment would last. Almost immediately, however, the approach showed promise. “My appetite disappeared on the table,” he says. Volunteers began describing the experience in one word: different.
with tv Thinking about Rezai’s research, Linda intensified her efforts to find Erin. A few days later, she located her at a hotel in downtown Burlington. Erin had been staying at her ex-boyfriend’s house. “She was in pretty bad shape,” Linda says.
Linda brought Erin back to her country home and told her about the focused ultrasound addiction study. Erin watched the video repeatedly. She felt hopeful, but she was also afraid. She had lived with anxiety and depression for much of her life, and drugs had become her way of coping. Using drugs made her feel most like herself, which was one reason she continued.
“It completely took over,” Erin says. “I couldn’t get out of there.” Her urge to obtain meth outweighed everything else, including her responsibilities as a mother and her need for stable housing. She wanted to recover, but she could not imagine her life without methamphetamine.
Linda believed Rezai’s research might offer her daughter a way out. To qualify for the study, Erin needed to be receiving active treatment within the WVU health system. Linda, her daughter, and her granddaughter planned to fly to Pittsburgh—the closest major airport to Morgantown—and drive the remaining hour and a half. Getting Erin onto the plane, however, took three attempts. Their first flight was scheduled early in the morning, and they arrived at the airport too late. During the second attempt, Erin said she needed to use the restroom while they waited to board, then walked out of the airport. On the third attempt, Erin’s daughter held her hand as they boarded and did not let go.
They eventually reached Morgantown. In April 2024, Erin entered the Center for Hope and Healing, a WVU-affiliated residential treatment facility recruiting participants for Rezai’s study. By the time mother and daughter left home, Erin was struggling deeply.
Source: www.wired.com