Tag Archives: neuromodulation

5 Ultrasound Trends to Watch in 2026

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1. Autonomous Ultrasound Robots—with Expert Oversight

Autonomous ultrasound robotics are emerging as a potential solution to workforce shortages and access gaps, particularly in rural or underserved settings. These AI-guided robotic systems can position probes, identify anatomical landmarks, and acquire standardized diagnostic views with minimal on-site expertise. Early research shows promising results for consistent image acquisition in areas like abdominal and vascular imaging. (Phys Med Biol 2023 Feb 6;68(4). doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/acaf46 and arXivLabs 2025 Oct 9. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2510.08106.)

However, it’s critical to emphasize that these systems do not replace clinical experts. While robots may assist with image capture, trained sonographers and physicians are still essential for reviewing images, interpreting findings, and making clinical decisions. In practice, autonomous ultrasound is best viewed as a force multiplier, helping extend expert care to more patients by streamlining acquisition, not eliminating the need for professional judgment.

2. Real-Time 3D Ultrasound Tracking for Interventional Procedures

In interventional radiology and surgical guidance, a next-generation ultrasound innovation is emerging: real-time 3D tracking of instruments using ultrasound. A new system combines B-mode ultrasound with photoacoustic beacons embedded in needles, allowing clinicians to see the exact 3D position of a biopsy needle in real time during procedures (arXivLabs 2025 Dec 18. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2511.20514). This could dramatically enhance safety, precision, and outcomes in biopsies and minimally invasive therapies.

This could more than improve imaging resolution—it could fundamentally change how ultrasound guides tools during procedures.

3. Ultrasound-Based Neuromodulation and Brain Interfaces

We’re now seeing ultrasound go where it has never gone before, deep into the brain for therapeutic neuromodulation and neurological intervention. One high-profile study showed development of an ultrasound “helmet” capable of targeting very precise brain regions non-invasively, with implications for treating Parkinson’s, depression, stroke recovery, and other conditions traditionally managed with invasive techniques (Nat Commun 2025 Sep 5;16(1):8024. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63020-1).

Another ongoing research effort uses focused ultrasound to study human consciousness and explore potential treatments for mental health disorders, a direction of ultrasound research that blurs the line between imaging and direct brain modulation (AXIOS Boston).

4. Low-Cost, Ultra-Flexible Transducer Materials

A cutting-edge materials innovation is producing ultrasound transducers that are both extremely flexible and inexpensive. By integrating porous graphene with 3D-printed piezoelectric polymers, researchers have created flexible ultrasound patches that can be customized in frequency and produce high-quality images, all at very low cost (arXivLabs 2025 Oct 17. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2510.15737. These could accelerate the adoption of wearable and patch-based imaging technologies beyond prototype labs and into widespread clinical use.

This trend in wearables can help produce more images in different settings.

5. Ultrasound for Non-Invasive Cancer and Tissue Ablation

Although still early in wide adoption, ultrasound therapy is transforming from purely diagnostic to a therapeutic tool that can treat disease directly. Techniques like histotripsy, which uses focused sound waves to mechanically destroy tumor cells without incisions, radiation, or chemotherapy, are already entering clinical practice in some hospitals, with regulatory pathways accelerating adoption (The Times).

This marks a major shift: ultrasound is not just about seeing disease, but treating it in a non-invasive, precise way.

Why These Trends Matter in 2026

What makes these trends stand out beyond incremental improvements is that they represent new functional roles for ultrasound:

  • Autonomy & robotics could solve skill shortage issues.
  • Real-time 3D guidance enhances intervention safety and efficacy.
  • Neuromodulation breakthroughs expand ultrasound into brain therapy.
  • Flexible materials change the economics and form factors of devices.
  • Therapeutic uses like histotripsy redefine clinical treatment paradigms.

Together, these innovations shift ultrasound from a supportive imaging modality to a central tool across diagnostics, therapy, and even autonomous healthcare delivery.

Therese Cooper, MS, RDMS, is a sonographer and the Chief Learning Officer at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. 

The AIIUM logo.

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Ultrasound: A New Approach to Treating Addiction

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Addiction is a complex and multifaceted condition that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Traditional treatments, such as behavioral therapy and medication, have varying levels of success. However, recent advancements in medical technology have opened new avenues for treating addiction, one of which involves the use of ultrasound. Although still being studied, this noninvasive technique is showing promise in helping individuals manage and overcome addiction by targeting specific areas of the brain involved in addictive behaviors.

To appreciate how ultrasound can be utilized in treating addiction, you need to understand the neurological underpinnings of addiction. Addiction often involves the brain’s reward system, particularly areas like the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal cortex. These brain regions are responsible for the pleasurable sensations associated with substance use and the subsequent cravings and compulsive behaviors.

When an individual consumes an addictive substance, it triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. Over time, the brain’s chemistry and circuitry can become altered, making it difficult for the individual to experience pleasure without the substance and leading to a cycle of dependency.

Ultrasound, traditionally used for imaging purposes, has found a new role in neuromodulation—altering nerve activity through targeted delivery of stimuli. Focused ultrasound (FUS) is a technique that uses sound waves to target specific areas of the brain with high precision. This method can modulate neural activity without the need for invasive procedures or pharmaceuticals.

How It Works

  • Targeting Specific Brain Regions: Ultrasound waves are precisely focused on brain areas implicated in addiction. This targeting can help modulate the activity of neurons in these regions, potentially reducing cravings and compulsive behaviors associated with addiction.
  • Noninvasive and Safe: One of the significant advantages of ultrasound therapy is its noninvasive nature. Unlike deep brain stimulation, which requires surgical implantation of electrodes, ultrasound therapy involves no incisions or physical alterations to the brain.
  • Adjustable: The effects of ultrasound neuromodulation can be adjusted by changing the frequency and intensity of the sound waves. Additionally, the treatment can be halted without lasting damage if any adverse effects occur.

Recent studies and clinical trials have explored the potential of ultrasound in treating various forms of addiction. For example, a study (see the report by the Washington Post) being conducted at the University of Virginia has demonstrated that FUS could modulate brain activity in regions associated with drug cravings. Participants who received focused ultrasound treatment showed a reduction in cravings and an improved ability to manage their addiction.

The application of ultrasound in addiction treatment is still in its early stages, but the preliminary results are promising. As technology advances and our understanding of the brain’s role in addiction deepens, ultrasound could become a cornerstone in the arsenal against addiction.

Future research will likely focus on optimizing the parameters of ultrasound therapy, such as determining the most effective frequencies and durations of treatment. Additionally, long-term studies are needed to assess the sustained benefits and potential risks of this approach.

Ultrasound therapy represents a new development in the field of addiction treatment. By offering a noninvasive, adjustable, and effective method for modulating brain activity, ultrasound has the potential to change the way we approach addiction. As research continues to unveil the full capabilities of focused ultrasound, it may provide new hope for individuals struggling with addiction, leading to more effective and accessible treatments.

The journey to overcoming addiction is challenging, but with innovations like ultrasound therapy, there is renewed optimism for those seeking to reclaim their lives from the grip of addiction.

Cynthia Owens, BA, is the Publications Coordinator for the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM).

Interested in reading more? Check out these posts from the Scan:

Good Vibration – Ultrasound as a New Mode of Neuromodulation

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Biomedical applications of ultrasound have taken great strides into a new arena of noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS). The journey can be traced back to the work by E. Newton Harvey (an early 20th-century zoologist, also one of the early pioneers in bioluminescence research), who discovered that ultrasound modifies the function of electrically excitable biological tissues. Subsequent investigations by William and Francis Fry as well as Leonid Gavrilov during the 1950s have demonstrated that ultrasound can temporarily alter the function of the brain and the peripheral nerves.

Ultrasound technology has since evolved, enabling the delivery of highly focused acoustic energy not only to the cortical surface, but also to deep regions of the brain through the intact skull, with a focal size measuring only a few millimeters. The advent of this transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) technique is owed to the development of multi-array ultrasound transducer/control systems as well as advances in image-guidance methods through which the location and intensity of the invisible acoustic focus can be accurately controlled after being transmitted through the skull.

Armed with technological advances, together with the wisdom of the past, a series of studies through the last decade have revealed that FUS, given in a batch of pulses at a low intensity (below the threshold for heat generation or mechanical damage), can reversibly modulate (increase or decrease) the excitability of brain tissue.1–3 This revelation has opened new possibilities for tuning up/down regional brain function due to the exquisite spatial selectivity and depth control of tFUS.

Existing NIBS techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct/alternating current stimulation (tDCS/tACS), offer non-pharmacological alternatives for modifying brain function; however, they cannot reach deep brain areas with sufficient spatial selectivity. In addition, emerging evidence indicates that the modulatory effects of tFUS outlast the duration of sonication, which is critical for its therapeutic effects to occur.4,5 Together, noninvasive neuromodulation by ultrasound may present a unique opportunity to treat various brain-related conditions, ranging from neurological to psychiatric.

Although the precise mechanisms that underlie the neuromodulatory effects of ultrasound remain unclear, several candidate mechanisms have been proposed, including transient changes in transmembrane capacitance and subsequent effects on action potential generation, functional modulation of mechanosensitive ion channels, and the modification of glial cell excitability.6 It is quite exciting to witness a rising number of publications interrogating the mechanisms surrounding ultrasound-mediated neuromodulation.

Along with a promising safety record in small/large animals, non-human primates, and studies involving healthy individuals7, various clinical trials are being conducted or completed. Some examples include the treatment of major depressive disorder, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, disorders of consciousness, and substance use disorder. The applications of ultrasound-mediated neuromodulation also extend to treating peripheral nerve diseases or noninvasive evaluation of regional brain function. The scope of clinical application is expected to expand since there are virtually no other known (noninvasive) means to selectively modulate local brain function across the brain volume.

So far, only a very limited number of incidents of minor discomfort (at the scalp) or temporary neurological symptoms (including ones that may not be directly related to the sonication) have been reported, which attest to the encouraging safety profile of this new technique. Notwithstanding, the absence of concrete information on the operational envelope and device characteristics impedes its rapid translation into clinical practice. Fortunately, a group of scientists, doctors, and engineers around the world have formed a consortium called the International Transcranial Ultrasonic Stimulation Safety and Standards (iTRUSST) and started to establish expert opinions and consensus on regulatory guidelines and standardization of the technique.8

With immense potential in introducing new treatment options, it will be interesting and exhilarating to see how ultrasound neuromodulation will become one of the mainstream neurotherapeutic modalities of the future.

References

1. Bystritsky A, Korb AS, Douglas PK, et al. A review of low-intensity focused ultrasound pulsation. Brain Stimul 2011; 4:125–136. doi:10.1016/j.brs.2011.03.007.

2. Darmani G, Bergmann TO, Butts Pauly K, et al. Non-invasive transcranial ultrasound stimulation for neuromodulation. Clin Neurophysiol 2022; 135:51–73. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2021.12.010.

3. Arulpragasam AR, van ‘t Wout-Frank M, Barredo J, Faucher CR, Greenberg BD, Philip NS. Low intensity focused ultrasound for non-invasive and reversible deep brain neuromodulation-A paradigm shift in psychiatric research. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:825802. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.825802.

4. Verhagen L, Gallea C, Folloni D, et al. Offline impact of transcranial focused ultrasound on cortical activation in primates. Elife 2019; 8: e40541. doi:10.7554/eLife.40541.

5. Kim HC, Lee W, Weisholtz DS, Yoo SS. Transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation of cortical and thalamic somatosensory areas in human. PLoS ONE 2023; 18:e0288654. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0288654.

6. Fomenko A, Neudorfer C, Dallapiazza RF, Kalia SK, Lozano AM. Low-intensity ultrasound neuromodulation: An overview of mechanisms and emerging human applications. Brain Stimul 2018; 11:1209–1217. doi:10.1016/j.brs.2018.08.013.

7. Lee W, Weisholtz DS, Strangman GE, Yoo SS. Safety review and perspectives of transcranial focused ultrasound brain stimulation. Brain Neurorehabil 2021; 14:e4. doi:10.12786/bn.2021.14.e4.

8. Attali D, Tiennot T, Schafer M, et al. Three-layer model with absorption for conservative estimation of the maximum acoustic transmission coefficient through the human skull for transcranial ultrasound stimulation. Brain Stimul 2023; 16:48–55. doi:10.1016/j.brs.2022.12.005.

About the Author

Seung Schik Yoo, PhD, MBA, is an Associate Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, a Director of the Neuromodulation and Tissue Engineering Laboratory (NTEL) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a faculty of Harvard’s Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative.

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