{"id":3155,"date":"2021-12-08T14:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T14:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusfoundation.org\/?post_type=sw_disease_condition&p=3155"},"modified":"2025-06-05T11:16:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T15:16:56","slug":"neuromyelitis-optica","status":"publish","type":"sw_disease_condition","link":"https:\/\/www.fusfoundation.org\/diseases-and-conditions\/neuromyelitis-optica\/","title":{"rendered":"Neuromyelitis Optica"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Focused Ultrasound Therapy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to improve the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with neuromyelitis optica, (also known as Devic\u2019s Disease) which is an autoimmune, inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets in the CNS without damaging surrounding normal tissue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it Works<\/strong>
Where the beams converge, the ultrasound produces a temporary opening of the blood-central nervous system barrier (similar to the blood-brain barrier) which allows the delivery of remyelinating cells and an antibiotic, which can decrease the severity of the disease. All of this can occur without any surgery. While early preclinical results are promising, there is still much to be done before this technology will be widely available for patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advantages<\/strong>
The primary options for treatment of neuromyelitis optica include plasmapheresis, but this is temporary, and patients typically have recurrent disease and eventual disability. There is no cure for the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide an improved treatment option for this otherwise debilitating disease. Focused ultrasound has less risk of complications \u2013 such as surgical wound healing or infection. It can reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue and is repeatable, if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinical Trials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the present time, there are no clinical trials recruiting patients for focused ultrasound treatment of neuromyelitis optica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Foundation updates these pages regularly, but with the increasing number of clinical trials, we want to be sure that our audience has the latest information available. Therefore, we also added the website search information for the above trials. If you click here<\/strong><\/a>, it will take you to the latest information available from https:\/\/www.clinicaltrials.gov\/<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Focused ultrasound treatment for neuromyelitis optica is not yet approved by regulatory bodies or covered by medical insurance companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notable Papers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yao X, Adams MS, Jones PD, Diederich CJ, Verkman AS. Noninvasive, Targeted Creation of Neuromyelitis Optica Pathology in AQP4-IgG Seropositive Rats by Pulsed Focused Ultrasound<\/strong><\/a>. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2018 Nov 30. doi: 10.1093\/jnen\/nly107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> for additional references from PubMed.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"sw_disease_condition_cat":[27],"sw_disease_condition_stage":[14],"class_list":["post-3155","sw_disease_condition","type-sw_disease_condition","status-publish","hentry","sw_disease_condition_cat-ophthalmological"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNeuromyelitis Optica - Focused Ultrasound Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how focused ultrasound, a noninvasive therapeutic technology, is being investigated to address Neuromyelitis Optica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fusfoundation.org\/diseases-and-conditions\/neuromyelitis-optica\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Neuromyelitis Optica - 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