For the first time, previously unusable chemotherapy drugs reached brain tumors in humans after a cutting-edge procedure by a Northwestern University team.
Northwestern Medicine doctors report results of the first in-human clinical trial in which they used a novel, skull-implantable ultrasound device to open the blood-brain barrier and repeatedly permeate large, critical regions of the human brain to deliver chemotherapy that was injected intravenously.
To conduct the procedure, the Northwestern team implanted small, ultrasonic devices into patients’ skulls after removing tumors from their brains. Then, as microbubbles and chemotherapy medications were intravenously injected, the devices emitted ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier. “This project is unique because it opens completely new avenues to drugs that have not been used,” said Dr. Roger Stupp, chief of neuro-oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who also helped lead the project. “This is the first trial that has taken it to the next level with chemotherapy drugs that you would normally not use for brain tumors.”
When left behind, those leftover cancer cells grow. The Northwestern research shows medicines capable of treating those leftover cancer cells can reach the brain. Patients remain awake for the whole procedure. It takes under two hours, and the medical team’s results show the treatment is safe and the blood-brain barrier is quickly restored, Stupp said. The ultrasound device remains implanted in patients’ skulls under their skin, allowing for it to be easily used throughout the treatment rounds.
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