Nat Commun: Clinical Trials: Focus on ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier to treat Parkinson's

Mr-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) combined with intravenous microfocus dosing can be applied to local temporary blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening in patients with neurodegenerative diseases and brain tumors.
MRgFUS could be a therapeutic tool for drug delivery for neurotherapy.
treatment of Parkinson's disease associated with dementia (PDD) is an important unsequippable need.
, researchers recently launched a forward-looking, one-arm, non-randomized, proof-of-concept, safety and feasibility Phase I clinical trial (NCT03608553), which is still in the process.
the main results of this study are to prove the safety, feasibility and reversibleness of BBB damage in PDD, with the target being the right top pillow cortical layer, where cortical lesions are the most important.
researchers will explore measurements to analyze changes in β-amyloid protein burden, post-treatment brain metabolism, and neuropsychological assessments.
recruited five patients from October 2018 to May 2019 for two courses of treatment, 2-3 weeks apart.
results are listed in a descriptive manner.
, the process is feasible, reversible, and has no serious clinical or radiological side effects.
researchers reported that five patients had BBB open at the junction of the top pillow during 8/10 treatment, as shown by the enhancement of radon.
in all cases, the treatment process was peaceful and did not experience side effects associated with BBB openness.
from pre-treatment to post-treatment, the researchers observed mild cognitive improvement and found no significant changes in amyloid protein or fluorodeoxyglucose PET.
, the MRgFUS-BBB open is safe, reversible, and can be repeated in PDD.
the study provides clues to the concept of BBB open-source therapy for dementia in PD and other neurodegenerative diseases.