Long an obstacle to treating diseases like brain cancer, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's, the blood-brain barrier might soon be unlocked thanks to a medical physicist in Canada.

To overcome the stubborn nature of the BBB and sneak chemotherapy drugs around tumors, Kullervo Hynynen, a medical physicist at Tornoto's Sunnybrook Research Institute, plans to use a novel approach: microbubbles.

Hynynen's plan is to work with a team of doctors to inject 10 brain-cancer patients with chemotherapy drugs, followed by microbubbles. He'll then beam the microbubbles with high-frequency ultrasound which will cause them to expand and contract approximately 200,000 times per second, according to a report in New Scientist. This should force the endothelial cells apart, allowing the tumor-destroying compounds to enter the brain and attack the tumor at nine different points. The tumors will then be removed and analyzed to see if there are more chemo drugs in the areas in which they were hit by the ultrasonic waves.


http://www.cnet.com/news/flying-acro...-microbubbles/