Canadian Doctor First to Break Blood-Brain Barrier

A Doctor Todd Mainprize (interesting last name), has for the first time ever successfully broken through the blood-brain barrier, allowing for the treatment of brain tumor in a patient. The article has a wealth of illustrations and videos that help further explain this - click the link for more info.

Article dated November 8, 2015:

The blood-brain barrier has been broken for the first time in history. Doctor Todd Mainprize, of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, and in concert with other neuroscientists, has successfully broken the blood-brain barrier, opening the way for revolutionary new treatments for brain cancer, Alzheimer’s, depression, stroke, Parkinson’s, and more.

They performed a procedure on a patient with a brain tumor, using "microbubbles" (!?), which allowed medication to travel through the blood-brain barrier :

... was used to successfully treat Bonny Hall’s brain tumor by non-invasively delivering medication deep into the brain using microbubbles and focused ultrasound to force cancer medication through the blood-brain barrier.

link

This sounds like HUGE news for the medical world

a reply to: FamCore

Omg, im gonna get so freaking stoned...

OOoooh sry, its a great "breakthrough" in the area of medical something, drugs is bad mkay!

a reply to: FamCore this is great news as some one who has both a brain tumour and suffered a stroke. The blood brain barrier has always posed problems for treating the disease. Will take a proper look, but thanks for posting, promising times. I have survived 8 years with a grade 4 gbm glioma taken 5 brain surgeries to keep me surviving . Which is almost unheard of, but I've had good surgeons, but the chemo has only had varying degrees of success due to the difficulty of penetrating the blood brain barrier. I always find the problem is with this type of news is the length of time it takes to get these drugs passed through all the trials and available to the patient. I was originally diagnosed in 2002 and thought I would have had more options in 10 years time, but improvements in treatment have been slow. Surgery has improved, but chemo has been the same ever since I was diagnosed and is no longer effective as I've had so many courses. I'll share this news with my parents thanks for the find

a reply to: FamCore

I couldn't get link to work. Could you provide some info as to what the blood-brain barrior is and why this is a WOW moment?

Thank you!

a reply to: NewzNose

From the article:

The treatment involves first dosing the patient with medication. Afterward, harmless microbubbles are injected into the bloodstream, and a high-intensity ultrasound beam is directed at the tumor, causing the microbubbles to vibrate. This gently tears the proteins around the capillary walls, allowing the medication to painlessly and harmlessly enter the brain tissue, something that has been impossible to achieve up to this point.

Definition of Blood-Brain Barrier (from Google Search):

"a filtering mechanism of the capillaries that carry blood to the brain and spinal cord tissue, blocking the passage of certain substances."

a reply to: NewzNose

and

Hall’s [the test patient] tumor was what is known as a glioma, a type of tumor that is difficult for doctors to treat through surgery due to its tendency to spread out in a web. Attempting to remove all of a glioma from a patient’s brain surgically is almost invariably fatal. Patients with glioblastomas (stage four gliomas) survive an average of one year, and almost never survive beyond three with conventional treatment. Doctors can use chemotherapy to treat the remaining parts of the tumor, but at best, 25 percent of the chemotherapy drugs reach the brain due to the blood-brain barrier. Chemotherapy has to be very carefully administered, as the drugs can be fatal themselves in greater doses; it’s not simply a matter of increasing the treatment.


The new technique developed by Dr. Mainprize and his associates changes the game completely. As researcher and Sunnybrook Director of Physical Sciences Dr. Kullervo Hynynen put it, “It will revolutionize the way we treat brain disease completely. It will give hope to patients who have no hope.”

Soon, nine other brain cancer patients will be treated in the same way and the results studied. Sunnybrook cancer specialist Dr. Maureen Trudeau, head of the division of medical oncology and hematology, is also planning her own study of the technique, intending to see if the treatment can deliver more of the chemotherapy drug Herceptin into the brain tumors of HER2-positive breast cancer patients whose breast cancer has spread through the lymph nodes to the brain.

a reply to: NewzNose
The blood brain barrier is a barrier of blood that surrounds and protects the brain from nasties in the blood stream. It's very difficult to penetrate rendering most chemo drugs quite inefective

originally posted by: NewzNose
a reply to: FamCore

I couldn't get link to work. Could you provide some info as to what the blood-brain barrior is and why this is a WOW moment?

Thank you!

Of the top of my head, the blood-brain barrier normally prevents harmful toxins from entering your grey matter. I'm guessing it may be too much work or too risky to filter good blood to the brain after gong all the way down to the liver/kidneys. The exceptions I believe are heavy metals in your bloodstream. Mercury, aluminum, lead, etc, do pass the barrier and cause all types of neurological disorders.

This sounds like a new delivery method that uses frequency in conjunction with a safe medium. I'll need to do my homework. I'm just speculating atm.

a reply to: FamCore


Yup. The lymphatic system is how baddies spread to the brain, including parasites. It's the roadway for a few of your hands up top.

a reply to: trifecta


Hands=glands.

a reply to: woodwardjnr
I am so impressed with your positive attitude and am sure that has alot to due to your survival abilities. Lets hope and and pray that this new medical milestone is fast-tracked for government approval. At least you have something to really give you hope for a new day. Your story did much today to remind of the power of the human spirit to survive against all odds. Hoping your future is shining brighter today.

a reply to: trifecta

Ahh, I didn't get your "hands=glands" reference, but now it makes more sense. Your lymphatic system (glands) act as the "doers" or carriers, so they are acting as the "hands" for your immune system/fighting off illnesses

a reply to: woodwardjnr

Thank you!

a reply to: FamCore

Thank you!

a reply to: trifecta

Thank you!

a reply to: woodwardjnr

I thought of you immediately I saw this and hope it will be something to help.

a reply to: Shiloh7 it will definitely be something I discuss with my oncologist soon.

This automatically made me think back to the machine used in Fringe to go through matter (bank heists).

Performed by none-other than the "Canadian Brain Trust"
We do things right up here.
Congrats to the team!

great!