Hemorrhagic stroke or intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) accounts for 10-15% of all stroke and is characterized by the bleeding and clotting in the brain caused by the rupture of blood vessels. Clinical treatments for ICH include craniotomy, a highly invasive surgery, and minimally invasive surgeries to drain the clot with catheter and thrombolytic drugs over several days. Due to the invasiveness, long treatment time, and the use of thrombolytic drugs, these treatments are associated with severe impairment of neurological function and poor outcome. MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is currently being investigated to improve ICH therapy. With MRgFUS applied outside the skull, the clot in the brain can be liquefied and aspirated out with a needle, providing a minimally invasive and faster treatment. Despite of the advancement, MRgFUS has the following three drawbacks: 1) It is cost prohibitive due to the long MRI hours required; 2) the treatment time is extensive for a large clot volume; and 3) It cannot treat tissue within 2 cm distance from the skullcap. Furthermore, all existing methods are not effective for large hematoma (>40mL). We propose to develop a new ultrasonic technology to treat ICH, termed histotripsy that has the potential to overcome each of the current limitations. Using ultrasound generated from outside the skullcap, histotripsy produces focal cavitation to liquefy the target clot. Compared to MRgFUS that needs >100s length pulses to generate cavitation, histotripsy can initiate cavitation using a single pulse of 14 s, and as a result is significantly faster and more efficient. Our preliminary data show that histotripsy liquefied in vitro clots of ~40mL volume through an excised human skullcap within 30 minutes, which is orders of magnitude faster than thrombolytic drugs and six fold faster than MRgFUS. It treated clots within 5 mm of the skullcap and is effective for clots larger than 40mL. The proposed aims address two major technical challenges to develop histotripsy for ICH therapy.
In Aim 1, we will develop a new device and associated algorithm, with much reduced complexity compared to MRgFUS, to achieve transcranial histotripsy ICH therapy without MRI.
In Aim 2, we will optimize the parameters to maximize the treatment speed and locations for transcranial histotripsy clot liquefaction. The proposed work will enable histotripsy to become a paradigm changing technology for ICH therapy and can be extended to other transcranial applications including ischemic stroke and brain tumor.

Public Health Relevance

The rupture of blood vessels in the brain can lead to bleeding and clotting (hematoma) inside the brain, termed as hemorrhagic stroke or intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). ICH accounts for 10-15% of all strokes and is particularly devastating, leading to a 30-day survival rate of 30-50%. The goal of this proposal is to develop a new, minimally invasive, ultrasonic technique that can significantly improve upon the current treatment for ICH.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
5R21NS093121-02
Application #
9062537
Study Section
Biomedical Imaging Technology Study Section (BMIT)
Program Officer
Koenig, James I
Project Start
2015-05-01
Project End
2017-04-30
Budget Start
2016-05-01
Budget End
2017-04-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2016
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Biomedical Engineering
Type
Biomed Engr/Col Engr/Engr Sta
DUNS #
073133571
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109
Shi, Aiwei; Lundt, Jonathan; Deng, Zilin et al. (2018) Integrated Histotripsy and Bubble Coalescence Transducer for Thrombolysis. Ultrasound Med Biol 44:2697-2709
Macoskey, Jonathan J; Zhang, Xi; Hall, Timothy L et al. (2018) Bubble-Induced Color Doppler Feedback Correlates with Histotripsy-Induced Destruction of Structural Components in Liver Tissue. Ultrasound Med Biol 44:602-612
Shi, Aiwei; Xu, Zhen; Lundt, Jonathan et al. (2018) Integrated Histotripsy and Bubble Coalescence Transducer for Rapid Tissue Ablation. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 65:1822-1831
Macoskey, Jonathan J; Hall, Timothy L; Sukovich, Jonathan R et al. (2018) Soft-Tissue Aberration Correction for Histotripsy. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 65:2073-2085
Macoskey, J J; Choi, S W; Hall, T L et al. (2018) Using the cavitation collapse time to indicate the extent of histotripsy-induced tissue fractionation. Phys Med Biol 63:055013
Gerhardson, Tyler; Sukovich, Jonathan R; Pandey, Aditya S et al. (2017) Catheter Hydrophone Aberration Correction for Transcranial Histotripsy Treatment of Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Proof-of-Concept. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 64:1684-1697
Gerhardson, Tyler; Sukovich, Jonathan R; Pandey, Aditya S et al. (2017) Effect of Frequency and Focal Spacing on Transcranial Histotripsy Clot Liquefaction, Using Electronic Focal Steering. Ultrasound Med Biol 43:2302-2317
Mancia, Lauren; Vlaisavljevich, Eli; Xu, Zhen et al. (2017) Predicting Tissue Susceptibility to Mechanical Cavitation Damage in Therapeutic Ultrasound. Ultrasound Med Biol 43:1421-1440
Vlaisavljevich, Eli; Gerhardson, Tyler; Hall, Tim et al. (2017) Effects of f-number on the histotripsy intrinsic threshold and cavitation bubble cloud behavior. Phys Med Biol 62:1269-1290
Lundt, Jonathan E; Allen, Steven P; Shi, Jiaqi et al. (2017) Non-invasive, Rapid Ablation of Tissue Volume Using Histotripsy. Ultrasound Med Biol 43:2834-2847

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