High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Pinpoints Individualized Treatments

Dr. Matthew Bucknor, assistant professor in residence in the musculoskeletal imaging subspecialty in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at UCSF, specializes in HIFU, high-intensity focused ultrasound, a precision medicine technique for treatment of musculoskeletal diseases such as bone metastases, cancer, desmoid tumors and osteoid osteomas.

"The HIFU machine creates sound waves and focuses them at a single point,” said Dr. Bucknor. “It’s similar to the idea of a magnifying glass concentrating the sun’s light. That point is about the size of a pea. The tissue becomes extremely hot (65-85 degrees Celsius) and ablates or burns the tumor.

“HIFU allows us to make many precise adjustments to individualize treatment more than we’ve been able to before. We can change how much power we're putting into the sound waves. We can change the size of the focus. We can change exactly where the focus is within the tumor. Each technical adjustment personalizes the treatment to get the best results for the patient.

“Some patients have a recurrence of disease after chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery. HIFU is an important new treatment option in those situations. It’s also important because it has significantly fewer inherent toxicities and risks than many standard therapies. With HIFU, we don’t have to make an incision. We’re not giving a medicine systemically that can affect other parts of the body. Ultrasound uses no ionizing radiation, so we’re not concerned about that. HIFU is an important step for patients-- it’s a way of being safer and more precise.”

“HIFU is an exciting new potential tool that can be added to and combined with many existing therapies to optimize patient care,” said Dr. Bucknor. “To be on the cutting edge of something that will change how medicine works is really exciting.”

Matthew Bucknor, MD, is an assistant professor in residence in the musculoskeletal imaging subspecialty in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Bucknor’s main research interest is developing new musculoskeletal applications of MR-guided high intensity focused ultrasound (MRgHIFU), including new treatments of bone metastases, desmoid tumors, lower back pain (facet arthropathy), and osteoid osteomas. He is also interested in minimally invasive ultrasound, CT-guided interventions and novel techniques for evaluating metabolic bone disease, bone/soft tissue tumors, cartilage pathology and sports injuries. Dr. Bucknor has published 11 reviewed articles, including 6 first author publications.