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Comment by 1_over_n | Hacker News Reader

Stupid question, could it be guided with something lower tech like ultrasound itself rather than MRI?

There is work being done in the area but the interesting part is that the MRI isn't only used for its direct imaging but also the ability to use it as a very expensive thermometer[1].

Not every procedure lends well to alternative imaging modality (Brain surgery is one) but ultrasound guided FUS is really where there is potential to increase adoption.

[1] http://rsl.stanford.edu/kim/Overviewpages/PRF.html

Found a good paper here outlining MR vs US (see table 2).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3064817/

The "expensive thermometer" point is interesing. Cant we develop a cheaper one?

Good paper, but it focuses on cancer applications but it would be a disservice to not point out the strides that HIFU is making in drug delivery[1], neurosurgery, and neuromodulation[3].

The (un)fortunate point of MRI thermometry is that is not only very effective at reading temperatures, but it can also produce thermal dosage maps that help in characterizing tissue leisioning (the exact response of HIFU ablated tissue is still be debated). On top of that you also get traditional MRI imaging essentially for free.

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-25904-9

[2] https://www.fusfoundation.org/diseases-and-conditions/neurol...

[3] https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8925600

Thank you for this. I will read these later!

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