Seminar : MRI-guided transcranial Focused Ultrasound for localized drug delivery

Benoit LARRAT, engineer from Neurospin (CEA), will present his latest work tuesday 15th december 2015 at 10:00 at the amphi of IPB (4 rue Kirschleger à Strasbourg).

Title : MRI-guided transcranial Focused Ultrasound for localized drug delivery

Team : AVR

Résumé : The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a natural barrier that prevents pharmaceutical agents from entering brain tissue. This can be associated with substantial problems in terms of efficiency and toxicity. Several approaches exist that allow to circumvent this BBB. The BBB can be temporarily opened by using a combination between focused ultrasound beams and microbubbles, which induces changes in vascular permeability. In order to assess the safety and the efficiency of such method, MR Imaging is required before, during and after the intervention. We have developed acoustic field mapping techniques based on the sensitivity of MRI to acoustic radiation force. We also use quantification methods of both paramagnetic and superparamagnetic contrast agents using T1 and T2 mapping. This method has allowed us to characterize the penetration of different molecules in brain tissue.