| The VOLTA project aims to develop new technologies for the non-invasive treatment of cancer using high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to locally heat tumors to temperatures high enough to kill cancer cells a process called thermal ablation. One of the main challenges is optimizing the temperature profile in the tumor to ensure that all cancer cells are killed. For organs that move during treatment, a second challenge is to make sure that the ultrasound remains focused on the moving tumor. These challenges will be addressed in the VOLTA project by combining HIFU with MRI an imaging modality that can capture both the real-time motion of organs and accurately map the temperature of body tissue. Such maps can be used to control the heating procedure to make sure the tumor is heated adequately. Until now, HIFU has largely been used in combination with ultrasound imaging, which does not have a temperature mapping capability. In the VOLTA project, Magnetic Resonance guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (MRgHIFU) technology will be developed for treating breast cancer and metastases in the liver, in a non-invasive way that has the potential to replace surgical resection. The possibility of locally heating tissue without doing harm to surrounding tissue opens a pathway towards new therapeutic strategies with improved reliability and less associated trauma, leading to improved efficacy, reduced periods of hospitalization, reduced treatment costs and improved quality of life for patients. |
