Scientists at Northwestern School of Medicine ran that four-minute process with the awake patients, who were able to go home in just a few hours. The use of ultrasound allows the barrier to open and close again in the space of an hour, providing a temporary window in which the brain is permeable to drugs circulating in the bloodstream.
Researchers implanted an ultrasound device in patients that uses microbubbles to open the blood-brain barrier and permeate critical parts of the brain so that it penetrates chemotherapy administered intravenously.