Currently, treatment of brain tumors is limited to resection, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Thermal ablation has been recently explored. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is being explored as an alternative. Specifically, the authors propose delivering HIFU internally to the tumor with an MRI-guided robotic assistant (MRgRA). The advantage of the authors' interstitial device over external MRI-guided HIFU (MRgHIFU) is that it allows for conformal, precise ablation and concurrent tissue sampling. The authors describe their workflow for MRgRA HIFU delivery.
Keywords: DOF = degrees of freedom; GBM = glioblastoma; HIFU = high-intensity focused ultrasound; LITT = laser interstitial thermal therapy; MRI guided; MRIT = MRI thermometry; MRgHIFU = MRI-guided HIFU; MRgRA = MRI-guided robot assistant; SRS = stereotactic radiosurgery; brain tumor; high-intensity focused ultrasound; neural ablation.