High-intensity focused ultrasound to relieve bone cancer pain

In a major clinical trial, scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust — a specialist cancer treatment hospital in London — are testing the potential for using high-frequency sound waves to relieve bone cancer pain. The technique being employed uses focused ultrasound beams to produce heat in bone tissue — similarly to the way a magnifying glass can concentrate the sun’s rays on a surface and creating heat — in order to burn away the pain source.

An ICR release notes that an initial five patients have been treated in the clinical trial, and have experienced encouraging reductions in the amount of bone tumor pain they’d been suffering.

Called “high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU),” the technique involves concentrating precise ultrasound energy on a target in the body to thermally destroy tissue. HIFU is used in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance in order to identify, target and track the treatment’s progress in real time. The treatment produces heat that destroys nerve tissue in the bone directly surrounding the tumor that has been causing the pain, while leaving adjacent areas unharmed.

While Ultrasound is commonly used in medical body imaging, researchers believe that when used at higher power it also offers promise as an exciting, new way to treat cancer symptoms.

Many patients with metastatic cancers affecting the bone experience intense bone pain, severely diminishing their quality of life. The hope is that HIFU can provide a non-invasive, non-drug technique for controlling pain in patients for whom radiotherapy is no longer a viable option, or where other treatments have been unable to control the disease.

If the HIFU technique can be proven successful for pain control, it is expected to be followed by further studies at ICR and the Royal Marsden with thermally destruction of local tumors at earlier stages of the disease, possibly helping to extend life.

The release cites Royal Marsden patient Moira Rogers, the first patient to participate in the clinical trial, commenting that, “Being on this trial has meant a great deal to me. It has helped get the pain I was in under control and given me my quality of life back. Trials like these are extremely important and I am so glad I have been given the opportunity by my doctors at The Royal Marsden to be part of this ground breaking study.” Professor Nandita deSouza   

“Focused ultrasound is an exciting potential cancer treatment because of its ability to target tumours very precisely. The point onto which the ultrasound beam is focused gets very hot, but the surrounding tissue is left unharmed. It's like using a magnifying glass in the sun to start a fire, where you need to form a sharp focal spot on the dry tinder.” Professor Gail ter Haar

“MR imaging is emerging in oncology applications, because of its excellent real-time 3D visualization of both soft tissue anatomy and physiological processes,” says Christopher Busch, General Manager MR Therapy at Philips. “Combining focused ultrasound thermal therapies with real-time MR imaging and monitoring is a powerful concept that has the potential to become a new precision treatment tool in oncology.”

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