Low Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound (LIPUS) for the Treatment of Spinal Disc Degeneration

Low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS)can induce cellular and bulk tissue effects that can be exploited for therapeutic purposes. In contrast to HIFU ablation, these acoustic exposures are minimal, and at most generate low temperature elevation. In order to facilitate clinical studies of image-guided therapeutic ultrasound for intervertebral disc regeneration and treatment of back pain, we plan to: (i) implement studies in proven animal models in vivo to demonstrate potential of ultrasound to increase cellularity, reduce inflammation, and improve remodeling to acute or degenerative disc-related back injury; and (ii) to demonstrate through experiments that a MRg-HIFU system is one possible vehicle for therapeutic delivery.