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ArticleInternational medical case reports journal2026

Feasibility and Safety of Transcranial Focused Ultrasound on Language Impairment in a Patient with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Report.

Chaoshan Yan, Guoli Zhu, Shan Liang, Yanpin Zhao, Weimin Chen, Qing Xia, Jing Jian, Zheng Wang, Beihua Zhang, Lijuan Ao

Abstract readCase Reports
In one paragraph

Article in International medical case reports journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Chaoshan Yan *Shanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0009-4290-5610
Guoli Zhu *Shanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0007-2013-8866
Shan Liang *Shanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0005-8073-3523
Yanpin ZhaoShanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0009-8213-5817
Weimin ChenShanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0000-0001-9166-5291
Qing XiaShanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0001-6462-4037
Jing JianShanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0000-0001-7679-7747
Zheng WangShanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Beihua ZhangShanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0000-0002-1672-8237
Lijuan AoShanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0006-7076-2256

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined by persistent difficulties with social communication and language, and a subset of children stay minimally verbal despite intensive interventions. The left amygdala and ventral-anterior superior temporal sulcus (STSva) form a key circuit for social-language integration, but how transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) might modulate in minimally verbal ASD has not been explored. Case Presentation: An 11-year-old minimally verbal ASD boy received 4 weeks of sequential tFUS stimulation (0.5 MHz). The treatment targeted the left amygdala and STSva, five times per week. Outcome assessments included the Mandarin Clinical Evaluation of Language for Preschoolers' Core Scale (MCELP-CS), Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) at pre-tFUS, post-tFUS, and a 4-week follow-up. The boy tolerated the intervention well, with no adverse events. Significant improvements in key language skills (vocabulary naming +10%, sentence structure imitation +22%) and reduced ASD symptoms (ABC language -40%, social interaction -26%) were observed post-tFUS and sustained at follow-up. fNIRS confirmed altered cortical activation and reorganized functional connectivity in language-related brain regions. Conclusion: This single-case observational report describes acceptable tolerance to sequential tFUS targeting the left amygdala-STSva circuit in a minimally verbal child with ASD, alongside concomitant behavioural and neuroimaging changes. These preliminary observations provide descriptive, hypothesis-generating data for this circuit-directed intervention strategy and highlight the necessity of larger controlled trials to further evaluate its potential clinical utility.

Indexed as

Autism Spectrum DisorderAmygdalaChildFeasibility StudiesHumansMaleSpectroscopy, Near-InfraredTreatment Outcomeautism spectrum disordercase reportfunctional near-infrared spectroscopylanguage impairmenttranscranial focused ultrasound

Identifiers

PMID42865690
PMCPMC13655666

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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.