{"id":40907,"date":"2026-05-14T14:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fusfoundation.org\/?post_type=sw_disease_condition&#038;p=40907"},"modified":"2026-05-14T15:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T19:05:11","slug":"leigh-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"sw_disease_condition","link":"https:\/\/www.fusfoundation.org\/diseases-and-conditions\/leigh-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-focused-ultrasound-therapy-nbsp\">Focused Ultrasound Therapy&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Focused ultrasound is\u00a0a therapeutic technology\u00a0that could transform the\u00a0quality of life and decrease the cost of care for\u00a0patients with\u00a0Leigh syndrome\u00a0This\u00a0novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the body without damaging surrounding normal tissue.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How it Works<\/strong>\u00a0<br>Where the beams converge, focused ultrasound produces\u00a0a\u00a0therapeutic effect\u00a0where the target area blood-brain barrier (BBB) is temporarily opened, and therapeutic agents in the blood stream\u00a0have the opportunity to\u00a0get access to the brain and improve the neurodegeneration that has been occurring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide a noninvasive and more effective alternative to existing care. While significant work has been accomplished, there is still much to do be done before this technology will be widely available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Advantages<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Focused ultrasound is noninvasive, so it does not carry added concerns like surgical wound healing or infection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Focused ultrasound can reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It can be&nbsp;repeated,&nbsp;if necessary.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-clinical-trials-nbsp\">Clinical Trials&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At the present time, there are no clinical trials recruiting patients for focused ultrasound treatment of&nbsp;Leigh syndrome.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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&nbsp;search&nbsp;information for the above trials. If you click\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/clinicaltrials.gov\/search?cond=Leigh%20Syndrome&amp;term=focused%20ultrasound&amp;aggFilters=status:not%20rec&amp;viewType=Card\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>here<\/strong><\/a>, it will take you to the latest information available from\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clinicaltrials.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>https:\/\/www.clinicaltrials.gov\/<\/strong><\/a>.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-regulatory-approval-and-reimbursement-nbsp-nbsp\">Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Focused ultrasound treatment for&nbsp;Leigh syndrome&nbsp;is not yet approved by regulatory bodies or covered by medical insurance companies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-notable-papers-nbsp\">Notable Papers&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Faideau&nbsp;M, Cl\u00e9ment R,&nbsp;Rigollet&nbsp;S,&nbsp;Benegiamo&nbsp;G, Cresson C, Blot B, Reynaud-Dulaurier&nbsp;R,&nbsp;Yjjou&nbsp;S, Aprahamian F, Durand S, Delalande A, Barbier EL, Stupar V,&nbsp;Auwerx&nbsp;J,&nbsp;Decressac&nbsp;M.<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/41572892\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Ultrasound-assisted gene therapy mitigates Leigh syndrome pathology.<\/strong><\/a><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Brain. 2026 Jan&nbsp;23:awag026.&nbsp;doi: 10.1093\/brain\/awag026.&nbsp;Epub&nbsp;ahead of print. PMID: 41572892.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/?term=%28%22focused+ultrasound%22+OR+HIFU%29+and+%22Leigh%22&amp;sort=date\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Click<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>here<\/strong><\/a><strong> for\u00a0additional\u00a0references from PubMed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/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":[6],"sw_disease_condition_stage":[14],"class_list":["post-40907","sw_disease_condition","type-sw_disease_condition","status-publish","hentry","sw_disease_condition_cat-neurological"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - 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