GenBedellSmith
GenBedellSmith t1_j5p7rhr wrote
Reply to comment by Smokey-bob in Focused ultrasound surgery: A sound you can’t hear but may one day change your life by PatatasFrittas
They're different types of focused ultrasound! Or rather, involve different parameters/protocols.
High-intensity ultrasound is what is being used for neurosurgery. Low-intensity ultrasound is what's being used for treating disorders like depression.
Low-intensity ultrasound doesn't destroy any part of the brain. It merely inhibits them temporarily. This is more similar to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), which is currently being used to treat depression, or to Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) which also shows promise.
The benefit of ultrasound is that it can target much deeper sites in the brain and with higher precision than TMS, which leads to new possible treatments. This is all still in the very early stages though.
GenBedellSmith t1_j5qfdij wrote
Reply to comment by Smokey-bob in Focused ultrasound surgery: A sound you can’t hear but may one day change your life by PatatasFrittas
Yeah the article does seem confusing at best