diffuse midline glioma, or DMG, is one of the most lethal childhood brain cancers, with a nearly 100% rate of mortality within five years of diagnosis.
Now, researchers at Children's National Hospital in Washington are aiming to use an emerging technology called focused ultrasound to fight the disease, the Washington Post reports.
"You can't hit these deadly, invasive tumors in children with the aggressive treatment we do in adults, because it can cause damage and harm a child's development," Jennifer Munson, an engineering professor at Virginia Tech, says in a press release.
"We want to reach these tumors with effective treatment doses, but without causing damage."
Munson's lab will work with Virginia Tech researchers to create 3D tissue models of DMG tumors, which can reveal why the tumors return and which treatments will be most effective.
The team plans to use focused ultrasound to "open the blood brain barrier and allow drug delivery into tumors that are normally hard to reach for any type of therapeutic approach," Eli Vlaisavljevich, an associate professor in Virginia Tech's Therapeutic Ultrasound and Noninvasive Therapies lab, says in the press release.
"One of the promising benefits we've seen is focused ultrasound can be used in combination with microbubbles
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