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Abstract
Preclinical studies have suggested that low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) may have therapeutic potential for Alzheimer's disease (AD) by opening the blood-brain barrier (BBB), reducing amyloid pathology, and improving cognition. This study investigated the effects of tFUS on BBB opening, regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (rCMRglu), and cognitive function in AD patients. Eight patients with AD received image-guided tFUS to the right hippocampus immediately after intravenous injection of microbubble ultrasound contrast agents. Patients completed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET), and cognitive assessments before and after the sonication. No evidence of transient BBB opening was found on T1 dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI. However, immediate recall (p = 0.03) and recognition memory (p = 0.02) were significantly improved on the verbal learning test. PET image analysis demonstrated increased rCMRglu in the right hippocampus (p = 0.001). In addition, increases of hippocampal rCMRglu were correlated with improvement in recognition memory (Spearman's ρ = 0.77, p = 0.02). No adverse event was observed. Our results suggest that tFUS to the hippocampus of AD patients may improve rCMRglu of the target area and memory in the short term, even without BBB opening. Further larger sham-controlled trials with loger follow-up are warranted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tFUS in patients with AD.

Affiliations

Hyeonseok Jeong  1   2 , In-Uk Song  3 , Yong-An Chung  1   2 , Jong-Sik Park  3 , Seung-Hee Na  3 , Jooyeon Jamie Im  1 , Marom Bikson  4 , Wonhye Lee  5 , Seung-Schik Yoo  5
1 Department of Nuclear Medicine, Incheon St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 21431, Korea.
2 Department of Radiology, Incheon St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 21431, Korea.
3 Department of Neurology, Incheon St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 21431, Korea.
4 Department of Biomedical Engineering, The City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA.
5 Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.