Neural Noise

Displacement-guided focused ultrasound modulation of median nerve and somatosensory evoked potentials

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  • Displacement-guided focused ultrasound (FUS) targeting the median nerve was used to attenuate somatosensation in healthy subjects (n = 18) and subjects with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) (n = 6).1
  • EEG-recorded somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs), together with pain, stiffness, and numbness, served as markers of sensation; electrically induced SSEPs were evaluated when paired with FUS.1
  • Subjects underwent 1000 (healthy) or 500 (CTS) FUS pulses; the study demonstrates that FUS modulates human SSEPs and supports FUS as a neuromodulation tool for somatosensation.1 1

Gardner updates

  • Displacement-guided FUS of the median nerve attenuated somatosensation in 18 healthy subjects and 6 with carpal tunnel syndrome; EEG-recorded SSEPs, pain, stiffness, and numbness were used as markers (1000 pulses in healthy subjects, 500 in CTS). 1

  • Displacement-guided median nerve FUS attenuated somatosensation in 18 healthy subjects and 6 with carpal tunnel syndrome; EEG-recorded SSEPs (1000 trials healthy, 500 CTS) plus pain, stiffness, and numbness were used as markers. 1

Weekly enrichment (2026-07-20)

  • The work was published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (2025; volume 73, number 3, pages 1255–1267, March 2026), first author Erica P. McCune, senior author Elisa E. Konofagou (Columbia University).23
  • Half of the electrical pulses were paired with 5 ms of upstream median-nerve sonication from a 1.1 MHz transducer at 1.8 or 2.9 MPa derated peak-positive pressure.24
  • On-nerve sonication reduced SSEP amplitude at both pressures; the regional N20–P30 peak-to-peak amplitude fell by about 0.52 μV with FUS.24
  • Healthy subjects showed reductions in beta and low-gamma power, while carpal tunnel syndrome subjects showed increases in alpha power.24
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome subjects receiving on-nerve sonication reported an average pain reduction of 40.6%, with symptom relief lasting 1–3 days post-procedure.24
  • Off-nerve sonication did not reduce SSEP amplitudes or symptoms (contralateral parietal SSEPs even increased by about 0.34 μV), and median-nerve displacement correlated with SSEP reductions, implying a displacement-dose mechanism and the need for accurate targeting.24
  • This is the first demonstration that peripheral-nerve FUS modulates human somatosensory evoked potentials, building on the group’s 2020 displacement-imaging pilot in pain-sensation mitigation.25
  • BCI/neuromodulation implication: noninvasive, image-guided FUS offers a targeted, drug-free analgesic route for median-nerve entrapment (carpal tunnel), complementing electrophysiology-based sensory monitoring.24

Footnotes

  1. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11142451 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. https://doi.org/10.1109/tbme.2025.3602291 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  3. https://publications.polymtl.ca/67853/ ↩

  4. https://ueil.bme.columbia.edu/sites/ueil.bme.columbia.edu/files/content/Publications/NeuroMod/Displacement-Guided_Focused_Ultrasound_of_the_Median_Nerve_Modulates_Somatosensory_Evoked_Potentials_in_Humans.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. https://doi.org/10.1109/tuffc.2020.3014183 ↩

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