Ultrasound Can Be Tweaked to Stimulate Different Sensations

A century after the world’s first ultrasonic detection device – invented in response to the sinking of the Titanic – Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have provided the first neurophysiological evidence for something that researchers have long suspected: ultrasound applied to the periphery, such as the fingertips, can stimulate different sensory pathways leading to the brain.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The discovery carries implications for diagnosing and treating neuropathy, which affects millions of people around the world.

“Ideally, neurologists should be able to tailor treatments to the specific sensations their patients are feeling,” said William “Jamie” Tyler, an assistant professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, who led the study published this week in PLOS ONE.

“Unfortunately, even with today’s technologies, it’s difficult to stimulate certain types of sensations without evoking others. Pulsed ultrasound allows us to selectively activate functional subsets of nerve fibers so we can study what happens when you stimulate, for example, only the peripheral fibers and central nervous system pathways that convey the sensation of fast, sharp pain or only those that convey the sensation of slow, dull, throbbing pain.”