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Julie Zhang

Precisely targeted sound waves could mark a major advance in treating pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma – an aggressive form of brain cancer – within a few years, according to a leading advocate of the technology. Researchers in Hong Kong and around the world are testing whether the approach can help treat tumours that are among the most challenging to manage.
“The next big breakthrough in the near future will be more effective treatments for … glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer,” said Dr Neal Kassell, founder and chairman of the US-based Focused Ultrasound Foundation. “We are very optimistic about that.”
He estimated that important advances from clinical trials involving the two hard-to-treat cancers could emerge in about three years, while Alzheimer’s disease represented another potentially significant application of the technology.
But Kassell acknowledged that clinical evidence for focused ultrasound remained limited for many diseases, despite its promise.
“Number one is more evidence of safety, efficacy and cost [effectiveness],” he told the South China Morning Post. “Number two is awareness. Most patients have never heard of focused ultrasound.”
The technology directs multiple beams of acoustic energy at a precise target inside the body, where their combined effects can destroy tissue, modulate brain circuits, or help to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier to help medicines enter the brain.
Kassell likened the basic principle to using a magnifying glass to concentrate beams of sunlight on a single point.
“Instead of a magnifying glass focusing beams of light, an acoustic lens is used to focus beams of ultrasound energy on a point deep in the body, with a high degree of precision and accuracy,” he said.
Nearly 200 potential applications are being researched globally, according to the Focused Ultrasound Foundation’s 2026 State of the Field report. Researchers identified 18 additional potential uses last year, bringing the total number of indications being researched to 196, with 12 progressing to first-in-human clinical trials.
The foundation organises and funds preclinical research and clinical trials, with the stated goal of accelerating the development and adoption of focused ultrasound. Its work includes high-risk, early-stage projects that other funders may be reluctant to support, according to the organisation.

Kassell, a former co-chairman of neurosurgery at the University of Virginia, founded the organisation in 2006.
Hong Kong has joined the effort to extend focused ultrasound beyond its more established uses. In April, Gleneagles Hospital carried out the city’s first two clinical trial procedures to treat pancreatic cancer using histotripsy, a technique that uses focused ultrasound to destroy tumour tissue. The investigational procedures involved patients for whom conventional surgery was unsuitable.
In one case, doctors targeted both the primary pancreatic tumour and cancer that had spread to the liver during the same procedure, according to a report on the trial.
Kassell said the technology could potentially complement existing treatments and medicines rather than replace them.
But translating that potential into wider clinical use will also depend on cost and access – constraints apparent in Hong Kong’s current histotripsy services. Under a Li Ka Shing Foundation-backed subsidy programme, eligible liver cancer patients pay HK$50,000 (US$6,374) for treatment at Gleneagles, plus an estimated HK$4,300 to HK$5,400 for specialist consultation and liver ultrasound assessment, according to the hospital’s website.
Kassell said private insurance coverage and public reimbursement would be critical if focused ultrasound were to move beyond specialised centres and become more widely available.
More than 1 million patients have received some form of focused ultrasound treatment worldwide, including nearly 75,000 last year, according to the foundation’s latest industry report. Those figures span established and experimental applications and should not be interpreted as evidence that all treatments have proved effective.
Kassell predicted that the number of focused ultrasound systems in use could rise from about 2,000 worldwide to 10,000 within five years, as more applications secure regulatory approval and reimbursement. But he said many existing machines remained underused due to limited awareness and a shortage of doctors trained in or willing to adopt the technology.
The more consequential question is whether doing so can safely delay cancer progression or recurrence, improve patients’ quality of life, and help them live longer.
“Clinical trials haven’t been completed,” Kassell said. “It just takes a long time.”


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Focused ultrasound is being studied as a non-invasive way to target brain tumours including glioblastoma, an aggressive form of the disease. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Neal Kassell, founder of the US-based Focused Ultrasound Foundation and a former co-chairman of neurosurgery at the University of Virginia, is pictured on a visit to Hong Kong in 2024. Photo: Sun Yeung

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A leading advocate says global trials in pancreatic and brain cancers may yield results within 3 years, with Alzheimer’s another application


A leading advocate says global trials in pancreatic and brain cancers may yield results within 3 years, with Alzheimer’s another application.


Focused ultrasound could be the next big cancer breakthrough for hard-to-treat tumours

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A leading advocate says global trials in pancreatic and brain cancers may yield results within 3 years, with Alzheimer’s another application

A leading advocate says global trials in pancreatic and brain cancers may yield results within 3 years, with Alzheimer’s another application