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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
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Can Ultrasound Waves Help People Quit Cocaine?
#28442040 - 08/21/23 06:35 PM (8 months, 23 days ago) |
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Can Ultrasound Waves Help People Quit Cocaine? August 21, 2023 - University of Virginia
UVA Health researchers are testing whether focused sound waves can help people overcome cocaine addiction.
The scientists have launched a clinical trial to see if low-intensity focused ultrasound can help reprogram brain cells to reduce the desire for cocaine. The noninvasive approach focuses on a portion of the brain called the insula, thought to play a critical role in multiple forms of addiction.
“This trial will inform us if focused ultrasound could change the way some patients feel about cocaine,” said principal investigator Dr. Nassima Ait-Daoud Tiouririne, director of UVA’s Center for Leading Edge Addiction Research. “What if we could reverse brain changes caused by drug use? This would change the way we treat addiction as a whole,” she said.
Researchers will use focused sound waves to gently massage cells within the insula to see if the approach causes chemical changes in the brain that reduce cocaine cravings. Prior studies have shown that the insula plays an important role in cocaine cravings and relapse.
UVA’s trial is recruiting people ages 18 or older who have been diagnosed with cocaine-use disorder and who are not trying to give up using cocaine.
The trial has received $5 million in support from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, grant 1UG3DA054789-01A1.
The cocaine trial joins an expansive list of research underway at the University of Virginia School of Medicine using focused ultrasound to treat diseases from cancer to Alzheimer’s.
Prior research by Dr. Jeff Elias and colleagues paved the way for the Food and Drug Administration to approve high-intensity focused ultrasound to treat both Parkinson’s symptoms and essential tremor, a common movement disorder.
The success of its focused ultrasound efforts prompted UVA Health last year to launch the world’s first center devoted to using focused ultrasound with immunotherapy to improve cancer care.
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 18,037
Loc: Raccoon City
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Re: Can Ultrasound Waves Help People Quit Cocaine? [Re: veggie] 1
#28442846 - 08/22/23 01:34 PM (8 months, 22 days ago) |
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Researchers will use focused sound waves to gently massage cells within the insula to see if the approach causes chemical changes in the brain that reduce cocaine cravings. Prior studies have shown that the insula plays an important role in cocaine cravings and relapse.
The insula might be described as one of the hedonic or pleasure centers of the brain, associated with orgasm. A region that is involved in processing emotions, cravings, and self-awareness.
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Exposure of the brain to high-intensity stress waves creates the potential for long-term functional deficits not related to thermal or cavitational damage. However, current ultrasound clinical protocols do not normally produce long-term neurological deficits.
So, we draw the line between focused massage and high intensity, where these numbers overlap --
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Ultrasound can potentially cause damage to human brain tissues at intensities above 720 mW/cm² (milliwatts per square centimeter). However, it is important to note that the specific threshold for damage can vary depending on factors such as the duration of exposure, frequency of the ultrasound waves, and individual sensitivity.
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Low-intensity ultrasound typically ranges from around 0.5 to 3 watts per square centimeter (W/cm²) and is typically used for applications such as accelerating tissue healing, reducing inflammation, and promoting tissue relaxation.
High-intensity ultrasound, on the other hand, can range from 5 W/cm² up to several hundred or even thousands of W/cm². This higher intensity ultrasound is often used for more intense therapeutic effects such as tissue ablation, focused ultrasound surgery, or targeted destruction of tumors or other pathological tissues.
Is the solution to cause a form of targeted brain damage, reminiscing of electroshock and the icepick --
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What if we could reverse brain changes caused by drug use? This would change the way we treat addiction as a whole,” she said.
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Insula hyperactivity: Chronic drug use can cause hyperactivity in the insula, leading to heightened sensitivity to drug-related cues and increased craving for drugs. This hyperactivity contributes to the intense desire and motivation to seek and use drugs.
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