Meeting Report: IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium 2019

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IEEE UFFCThe 2019 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) took place October 6-9 in Glasgow, Scotland. The meeting brought together an international group of more than 1,500 representatives from academia and industry to exchange scientific ideas, collaborate on future projects, and learn about new products.

The Symposium opened with one full day of optional short courses followed by a three-day technical program. The technical program consisted of talks from invited speakers, as well as oral and poster presentations. Given the breadth and depth of the field of ultrasound, parallel sessions ran in tandem each day to incorporate as much material as possible into the Symposium. In total, the Symposium featured 94 sessions, each lasting between 60 and 90 minutes.

Much of the conference centered on diagnostic ultrasound, but numerous sessions highlighted focused ultrasound and other therapeutic ultrasound modalities.

The parallel sessions that included presentations of research involving therapeutic ultrasound included:

  • Theranostic drug delivery
  • Theranostic monitoring and neuromodulation
  • Brain and spinal therapy
  • Gene and drug delivery
  • Microbubbles
  • Neuromodulation
  • Histotripsy and cavitation
  • Cardiovascular therapy
  • Tumor therapy and drug delivery

Oral presentations within each of the above sessions highlighted preclinical laboratory studies using focused ultrasound that could translate into clinical application. Some of the most clinically relevant talks included:

  • “Focused Ultrasound-Enabled Brain Tumor Liquid Biopsy (FUS-LBx) for Noninvasive, Safe and Effective Brain Tumor Biomarker Detection” (Washington University)
  • “Inflammatory Response and Cognitive Function Following Focused Ultrasound-Mediated Blood Brain Barrier Opening in Non-Human Primates” (Columbia University)
  • “Multimodal Sonographic Assessment of Heptaocellular Carcinoma Response to Antivascular Therapy” (University of Pennsylvania)
  • “Focused Ultrasound Stimulation of Median Nerve Modulates Somatosensory Evoked Responses” (Columbia University)
  • “Histotripsy Mediated Immune Response” (University of Michigan)
  • “Non-Invasive Transthoracic Ultrasound Therapy of Calcified Aortic Stenosis: Feasibility and Safety” (Physics for Medicine, ESPCI, Paris)
  • “Non-Invasive Fast, Large and Selective In-Vivo HIFU Ablation of the Liver with a Toroidal Transducer” (LabTAU, INSERM U1032)

The Focused Ultrasound Foundation was a sponsor of the Symposium and had an exhibit on display throughout the conference.

“Exhibiting at the IEEE IUS meeting was a great opportunity to increase awareness around focused ultrasound and educate attendees about the many opportunities the Foundation offers to fund research and advance their work,” said Lauren Powlovich, MD, the Foundation’s Director of Special Projects.