SynthesisJournal of neuro-oncology2024
Focused ultrasound-mediated enhancement of blood-brain barrier permeability for brain tumor treatment: a systematic review of clinical trials.
Synthesis in Journal of neuro-oncology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Focused ultrasound-induced blood-brain barrier modulation for drug delivery in recurrent glioblastoma: A systematic review.The Indian journal of medical research · 2026Pooled it
- Focused Ultrasound is Poised to Take Non-Viral Gene Therapies to the Blood-Brain Barrier - and Beyond.Cell biomaterials · 2026Article
- Exploring the landscape of targetable alterations in patients with glioblastoma.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2026Review
- Nanotechnology in Pediatric Neurology: Applications and Innovations.Pharmaceutics · 2026Review
- A Magnetic Resonance-Compatible Fiberoptic Temperature Sensor for Measuring Focused Ultrasound-Induced Heating Without Artifacts.Ultrasound in medicine & biology · 2026Article
- Genomic Deletion of P-Glycoprotein from Gliomas Via the Focused Ultrasound-Delivery of a Duplex CRISPR Cas9 Ribonucleoprotein System.Cell biomaterials · 2026Article
- Intraoperative technological advances and new frontiers in precision glioma surgery.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2026Review
- Friend or foe? Glial-vascular interactions in health and neurodegenerative disease.Pharmacological reviews · 2026Review
- RNA-based precision medicine in glioblastoma driven by oncogenic gene fusions.Molecular therapy. Oncology · 2026Review
- Narrowing of glioma vascular caliber via chronic VEGFR2 blockade improves the uniformity of focused ultrasound-mediated small molecule drug delivery.Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society · 2026Article
- Applications of transcranial focused ultrasound for primary brain tumors.Neuro-oncology advances · 2026Review
- Focused ultrasound for brain metastases.Neuro-oncology advances · 2026Review
- From competition to complementarity: narrative review of laser interstitial thermal therapy, focused ultrasound, and radiofrequency ablation in minimally invasive neurosurgery.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Review
- Astrocyte-associated immunosuppressive programs in brain tumors: a STAT3-centered perspective.Cancer metastasis reviews · 2026Review
- Review
- Advances in Strategies to Transport Nanoparticles Across the Blood-Brain Barrier for Drug Delivery into the Brain for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Recent Advances in the Non-viral Delivery of Genes to Central Nervous System Disorders.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- From Polyphenols to Prodrugs: Bridging the Blood-Brain Barrier with Nanomedicine and Neurotherapeutics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeBrain tumors, particularly glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), present significant prognostic challenges despite multimodal therapies, including surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. One major obstacle is the limited drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Focused ultrasound (FUS) combined with systemically administered microbubbles has emerged as a non-invasive, targeted, and reversible approach to transiently open the BBB, thus enhancing drug delivery. This review examines clinical trials employing BBB opening techniques to optimise pharmacotherapy for brain tumors, evaluates current challenges, and proposes directions for further research.
methodsA systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov up to November 2023, searching for "ultrasound" AND "brain tumor". The search yielded 1446 results. After screening by title and abstract, followed by full-text screening (n = 48), 35 studies were included in the analysis.
resultsOur analysis includes data from 11 published studies and 24 ongoing trials. The predominant focus of these studies is on glioma, including GMB and astrocytoma. One paper investigated brain metastasis from breast cancer. Evidence indicates that FUS facilitates BBB opening and enhances drug uptake following sonication. Exploration of FUS in the pediatric population is limited, with no published studies and only three ongoing trials dedicated to this demographic.
conclusionFUS is a promising strategy to safely disrupt the BBB, enabling precise and non-invasive lesion targeting, and enhance drug delivery. However, pharmacokinetic studies are required to quantitatively assess improvements in drug uptake. Most studies are phase I clinical trials, and long-term follow-up investigating patient outcomes is essential to evaluate the clinical benefit of this treatment approach. Further studies involving diverse populations and pathologies will be beneficial.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.