TIME Magazine's 50 Best!
09-12-2011

TIME Magazine features focused ultrasound as one of this year's 50 best inventions

The visibility of focused ultrasound is skyrocketing. TIME Magazine has named it one of the 50 most inspired ideas, innovations and revolutions of 2011. In its coverage, TIME heralds MR-imaging and focused ultrasound "remarkable in their own right" and observes that "something life-changing" emerges when the two are combined.

The report, which appears in the magazine's November 28, 2011 "Invention Issue," is now available on newsstands throughout the US and can be accessed online by subscribers.
 
According to FUS Foundation Chairman Neal Kassell, MD, "The recognition in TIME marks a critical inflection point for focused ultrasound therapy. We can finally stop calling it ‘medicine's best kept secret' because the word is getting out."

Kassell believes that when the potential and capabilities of noninvasive focused ultrasound become widely known, a revolution in patient treatment will be inevitable. "Once the medical community understands that focused ultrasound can destroy tumors, dissolve clots, relieve pain and deliver medicines to precise targets without the use of damaging incisions, this remarkable technology will become a standard of care for many of today's most deadly and debilitating conditions."

Surging media interest
Coverage in TIME caps off a month of surging media interest. In its October 2011 issue, Medtech Insight ran a 10-page report on the current state and future of image-guided focused ultrasound. That publication, which is targeted to medical technology executives and investment professionals, became interested in focused ultrasound following the presentation by W. Jeffrey Elias, MD at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons on October 3. Elias described the preliminary and highly promising results of the essential tremor clinical trial being funded by the FUS Foundation at the University of Virginia.

More media coverage surrounded the TEDMED 2011 talk given on October 27 by Yoav Medan, PhD of InSightec. Entitled "Is It Still Surgery If You Don't Cut Anything?" the presentation literally wowed the audience, which consisted of nearly 800 leaders and innovators in the fields of medicine, science, business and technology.

The foundation was integrally involved in creating these media opportunities. For us, this excellent, high-profile coverage is a welcomed development. We're committed to transforming focused ultrasound from 'medicine's best kept secret' to one of its most valued and widely applied solutions. The power, reach and influence of the media are a mighty ally in our cause.

NICE has reviewed this treatment, and has recently issued new draft guidelines which have made some important changes to the provisional recommendations.
22-11-2011

Please see here for the full document:   

http://guidance.nice.org.uk/IPG231/DraftGuidance

Specifically:
"1.1  The evidence of efficacy in the short term is adequate [and] the procedure may be used with normal arrangements for clinical governance and audit."

This guidance is significantly different from NICE's 2007 comment that "1.1 Current evidence on the safety and efficacy of magnetic resonance image (MRI)-guided transcutaneous focused ultrasound for uterine fibroids is such that this procedure should only be used with special arrangements for consent and for audit or research."-

Focused Ultrasound wows the audience at TEDMED 2011
29-10-2011

“Mind-blowing” and “inspirational” is how TEDMED 2011 attendees described yesterday’s focused ultrasound presentation by InSightec’s Vice President and Chief System’s Architect Yoav Medan. A medical conference like no other in the world, TEDMED brings together leaders and innovators in the fields of medicine, science, business and technology. Other speakers at this year’s TEDMED conference included cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, legendary architect Michael Graves, US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin and US Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra.

The inclusion of focused ultrasound on TEDMED’s agenda places it among an elite set of breakthroughs shared with a world-class audience. More importantly, it validates focused ultrasound’s stature as a game-changing technology and indicates the enormous impact it could have on healthcare worldwide.

For more, please visit http://www.fusfoundation.org/Blog/yoav-medan-presented-mrgfus-at-tedmed-2011-today

Focused ultrasound pioneer, Wladyslaw Gedroyc, MD, named Honorary President of FUS Foundation's 2012 Symposium
16-09-2011

The Focused Ultrasound Surgery (FUS) Foundation has announced the selection of Wladyslaw Gedroyc, M.D. of Imperial College and Saint Mary's Hospital in London as Honorary President of the 3rd International Symposium on MR-guided Focused Ultrasound.
A consultant radiologist, Gedroyc is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in the development of noninvasive patient treatments using MR-guided focused ultrasound. Much of Gedroyc's ground-breaking work has involved the treatment of uterine fibroids and abdominal conditions such as pancreatic and liver tumors. He is currently investigating a focused ultrasound application to alleviate the severe back pain associated with facet joint disease.
FUS Foundation Chairman Neal F. Kassell, MD, noted, "We are delighted to have Professor Gedroyc serving as Honorary President. He is a preeminent clinician and thought leader who has been a driving force in the field of therapeutic ultrasound. We deeply respect and appreciate his accomplishments and applaud the vision and values that have shaped his work."

The 3rd International Symposium on MR-guided Focused Ultrasound will be held October 14- 17, 2012 in Bethesda, MD, USA. Gedroyc anticipates that the symposium will showcase and contribute to the escalating progress of preclinical research and new clinical applications. "I hope that symposium attendees will gain a huge insight into the full range of applications that focused ultrasound can provide to them and, therefore, to their patients," he said.

The symposium's three-day agenda will spotlight leading edge preclinical, translational and clinical research and address issues impacting widespread adoption of MR-guided focused ultrasound therapies. Information about the symposium can be found here.