Patent ID: 7674229

Claim:
A method for opening a blood-brain barrier in a subject, the method comprising: identifying a target region associated with a blood-brain barrier in a subject; controlling a focal region associated with ultrasonic radiation to overlap the target region; directing, through the subject's skull, ultrasonic radiation having a frequency below 500 kHz to the target region within the focal region to open the blood brain barrier at the target region; adjusting the frequency with a controller such that wavefronts of the ultrasonic radiation remain essentially unchanged while passing through the skull; while tissue in the target is undergoing sonication, monitoring acoustic emissions acquired by an acoustic detector and resulting from interaction between the ultrasonic radiation and gaseous bubbles triggered by the ultrasonic radiation at the target region; and analyzing the acoustic emissions using a processing system to track and adaptively control the progress of sonication by: determining a physical state of the blood-brain barrier; and stopping the ultrasonic radiation if an opening in the blood-brain barrier is detected.