The University of Virginia Health System, in conjunction with the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation, held a dedication ceremony yesterday afternoon for its state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery (MRgFUS) Center.
According to James Larner, chairman of UVA’s Department of Radiation Oncology and director of the new Center, the facility will contain the first MRI fully dedicated to ultrasound therapy, not diagnostic imaging.
While the only FDA-approved use of the Center at present is the treatment of uterine fibroids, Larner said that the facility "has many other potential applications."
According to UVA Health System’s website, the procedure uses high frequency ultrasound waves to "target treatment sites as small as one millimeter in diameter," and is "powerful enough to destroy tumors and liquefy blood clots" without harming the surrounding tissue.
"It kills 100 percent of the cells, 100 percent of the time," said Larner. "Not even radiation does that. Not even high-dose radio surgery does that."
Part of what makes focused ultrasound therapy unique is that, unlike other therapies, "there’s no way cells can become resistant to it."
Neal Kassell, who teaches neurosurgery at UVA and founded the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation in 2006, said that focused ultrasound surgery "stands the possibility of being the most important therapeutic technology since the invention of the scalpel. It could be the ultimate in non-invasive surgery. It could eliminate, and certainly complement, the vast majority of radiation therapy."
Both Kassell and Larner stressed the wide range of the therapy’s potential applications. "Even cellulite," said Kassell, provoking laughter from the audience.
Together, the Foundation and the Commonwealth of Virginia spent $8 million to build the Center. It will open this October.