BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM

Cutting-edge technology in the form of a humble helmet may soon change the way we treat neurological and psychiatric conditions without surgery. Scientists in the UK have developed a wearable ultrasound device that targets deep areas of the brain with unprecedented precision. Dubbed a “paradigm shift” by researchers, the innovation could offer new hope to people living with conditions like Parkinson’s disease, depression, and essential tremor.

A new frontier in brain therapy

Created by researchers at University College London and the University of Oxford, the helmet uses transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) to influence brain activity non-invasively. That’s a major leap from existing deep-brain stimulation (DBS), which requires surgically implanted electrodes. As Oxford professor Charlotte Stagg explains, the new helmet allows scientists to “change the ongoing activity of a brain region without heating it up or damaging it in any way, and without screws into the skull.”

While ultrasound has been used in neuroscience before, the precision and depth of this device set it apart. Conventional ultrasound tools can damage tissue or only stimulate large areas. But this helmet can home in on brain regions 1,000 times smaller than standard systems and 30 times smaller than earlier deep brain ultrasound devices.

How it works

The device contains 256 tiny ultrasound emitters arranged in a special helmet. These emitters send focused beams to precise areas of the brain, guided by a custom-designed plastic face mask that keeps the user’s head still inside an MRI scanner. Using the individual’s skull images, a computer model coordinates each emitter to focus on one exact spot, stimulating only the intended brain region while leaving others untouched.

“This is really important,” says Stagg. “There are lots of structures deep in the brain that are very close together and do very different things. We need to be able to individually target them without accidentally stimulating the neighboring region.”

The result is a focused, reversible, and repeatable brain stimulation that can be tuned to either activate or suppress neuronal activity, all without breaking the skin.

Proof of concept

In one trial, the team aimed the ultrasound waves at the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), a small structure in the thalamus involved in visual processing. While volunteers viewed a flashing checkerboard, scientists used functional MRI to track changes in brain activity. What they observed were boosted responses in the visual cortex during stimulation.

In another experiment, stimulation led to decreased activity in the same region for at least 40 minutes afterward, suggesting the device can create lasting effects.

Even though participants didn’t consciously notice changes in what they were seeing, the researchers saw dramatic shifts in brain activity. “The ultrasound is being used to safely, transiently and non-invasively change the activity in the brain cells (neurons),” says Stagg.

Toward clinical use

While this helmet is still being tested, it holds immense promise for real-world applications. “Clinically, this new technology could transform treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders,” said lead author Professor Bradley Treeby of UCL. The team hopes the device could eventually replace or complement current surgical approaches.

Notably, the effects of stimulation seem to last beyond the treatment window, offering a potential pathway for therapies that don’t require continuous intervention. And so far, no side effects have been reported. “The helmet is a little claustrophobic,” Stagg admits, “but it is much less involved than what would be needed for surgery.”

A portable version of the system is already in development through a UCL spinout company called NeuroHarmonics, which aims to make this technology more widely available.

What’s next?

Researchers stress that more studies are needed to fully understand how TUS alters brain function. But as it stands, this helmet could be a game-changer for both science and medicine, giving us a peak into the brain’s deepest workings without the risks of invasive surgery.

“The ability to precisely modulate deep brain structures without surgery represents a paradigm shift,” Treeby emphasized, “offering a safe, reversible and repeatable method for both understanding brain function and developing targeted therapies.”

Source study: Nature Communications— Ultrasound system for precise neuromodulation of human deep brain circuits