Therapy Ultrasound Network for Drug Delivery & Ablation Research (ThUNDDAR)

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Therapeutic ultrasound (ThUS) has enormous potential as a minimally invasive treatment modality with applications ranging from the treatment of cancer and stroke, to fracture healing and neuromodulation. It is uniquely versatile, offering a non-invasive technique with the ability to thermally ablate tissue, to mechanically fragment tissue or to enhance drug delivery, depending on the way in which the acoustic energy is delivered. However, despite highly promising initial trials and its considerable advantages in terms of cost and patient safety, widespread clinical adoption has been hindered by a combination of factors. These include: poor understanding of the mechanisms of action, lack of effective treatment monitoring, absence of standardised treatment protocols and poor communication between basic scientists, engineers and clinicians. The main focus of the Therapeutic Ultrasound for Drug Delivery and Ablation Research (ThUNDDAR) Network is to address these factors by stimulating translational research that will enable the potential of therapeutic ultrasound to be fully realised. The Network brings together engineers, physicists, mathematicians, chemists, biologists, industry and clinicians as well as patient groups and regulatory bodies to identify and break down existing, and future, barriers to the use of therapeutic ultrasound in the UK and throughout the world. ThUNDDAR's activities will include the organisation of specialist meetings, seed funding for pilot studies that cross disciplinary and institutional boundaries, and the production of web based information about therapy ultrasound for the benefit of industry, clinical users, health commissioners and patient groups.