Transcranial focused ultrasound for head and neck cancer pain
Cancer patients often develop pain associated with their disease or its treatments, and this pain becomes difficult to manage if medications fail or if it occurs during terminal stages. Focused ultrasound, a new technology guided by MRI and requiring no incisions, is extremely precise and is now being used to manage movement disorders like essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease. This project will apply focused ultrasound to a pain circuit, deep inside the brain, to determine if it relieves intractable pain associated with head and neck cancer.
A staged, comprehensive investigation for developing insular deep brain stimulation to treat refractory chronic pain
Patients with refractory chronic pain typically do not respond to traditional analgesics or weak opioids as these agents do not directly address the cause for their pain. Many chronic pain patients do not achieve satisfactory pain relief even with evidence-based treatment, or they do not tolerate effective doses because of adverse side effects. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is already an established treatment for intractable movement disorders and epilepsy, and recent advancements in the fields of pain neurophysiology and biotechnology may facilitate the use of DBS as a nonpharmacological therapy for refractory chronic pain.
