VIDEO: Doctors finally break the blood-brain barrier - Send drugs through using ultrasound waves

11/10/2015 - 07:27


Sunnybrook scientists made history this week as they used focused ultrasound to non-invasively breach the blood-brain barrier and more effectively deliver chemotherapy into the brain tumour of a patient.

Each person has a protective barrier that normally restricts the passage of substances from the bloodstream into the brain protecting it from toxic chemicals.

“The blood-brain barrier (BBB) has been a persistent obstacle to delivering valuable therapies to treat disease such as tumours,” says Dr. Todd Mainprize, principal investigator of the study and Neurosurgeon in the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

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