That's More Like It

Do we really have to wait 75 years for some 22nd century healthcare? Credit: Microsoft Designer

I’m always on the lookout for advances in healthcare that seem more like 22^st century medicine than what we still experience in 2025. Way too much of it seems less advanced than we should be expecting in a world of AI, genetic engineering, nanobots, and the like. I often think of the scene in Star Trek IV where Dr. McCoy finds himself in a 20^th century hospital and is appalled:

 

So I’m pleased to report on a couple of developments that seem like the future.

Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (aka “ultrasound helmet): You may not have ever heard of deep brain stimulation, unless you know someone who has advanced Parkinson’s, dystonia, essential tremors, or epilepsy. It turns out that electrical impulses to certain parts of the brain can help reduce the involuntary motions these conditions can result in.

The drawback is that deep brain stimulation is delivered by electrodes implanted deep in the brain. While this may not be quite as daunting as it sounds, people are still, you know, drilling holes in your head and pushing electrodes into your brain. You can imagine Dr. McCloy’s reaction.

Enter transcranial ultrasound stimulation. A new paper in Nature from researchers at University College London (UCL) and Oxford describes using a 256 element helmet to precisely aim ultrasound waves to accomplish the same results.

Our findings reveal this system’s potential to non-invasively modulate deep brain circuits with unprecedented precision and specificity, offering new avenues for studying brain function and developing targeted therapies for neurological and psychiatric disorders, with transformative potential for both research and clinical applications.

Professor Bradley Treeby, senior author of the study from UCL Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, said:

Clinically, this new technology could transform treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders like Parkinson's disease, depression, and essential tremor, offering unprecedented precision in targeting specific brain circuits that play key roles in these conditions. 

The ability to precisely modulate deep brain structures without surgery represents a paradigm shift in neuroscience, offering a safe, reversible, and repeatable method for both understanding brain function and developing targeted therapies.

Moreover, Professor Treeby asserts: “For the first time, scientists can non-invasively study causal relationships in deep brain circuits that were previously only accessible through surgery.” Similarly, senior author Prof Charlotte Stagg of Oxford University said: “The waves reached their target with remarkable accuracy. That alone was extraordinary, and no one has done it before.”

Dr Ioana Grigoras, a first author of the study from the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, agrees: "This novel brain stimulation device represents a breakthrough in our ability to precisely target deep brain structures that were previously impossible to reach non-invasively. We are particularly excited about its potential clinical applications for neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease, where deep brain regions are especially affected."

The research was primarily a proof-of-concept, but the team is already on the way to test the system on brain areas linked with Parkinson’s, schizophrenia, stroke recovery, pain, depression and other conditions. They hope to have the first clinical applications in a few years.

The current helmet is used in conjunction with an fMRI, but the team hopes to eventually be able to use AI to not require the fMRI. They’ve founded NeuroHarmonics to develop a portable, wearable version of the system, aiming to allow patients to use at home. Its vision is “to build what could become the gold standard for non-invasive neuromodulation, potentially transforming the lives of millions affected by brain disorders while opening new frontiers in brain-computer interaction.”

That sounds like some 22nd century medicine.

Person wearing ultrasound helmet. Credit: Treeby, et. al.

Electromechanical reshaping (EMR): When Lasik surgery was introduced in the late 1980’s, it sure seemed like some 21^st medicine. Lasers! Surgery without scalpels, and with greater precision! It was, indeed, a great step forward. But we’re in 2025 now, and it must be admitted that Lasik is not without risks. Plus, as Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College, points out: “LASIK is just a fancy way of doing traditional surgery. It’s still carving tissue — it’s just carving with a laser.”

Professor Hill thinks there is a better way. He and his colleague Brian Wong, a surgeon-engineer at the University of California, Irvine, believe a process known as electromechanical reshaping (EMR) offers a better option. Basically, it uses electrical impulses to reshape the cornea. No surgery required.

The researchers applied a small electric potential to a lens. Without getting into all the chemistry involved, after about a minute, the cornea’s curvature conformed to the shape of the lens — which is, they point out, about the same amount of time LASIK takes, but with fewer steps, less expensive equipment and no incisions. In other experiments, the team demonstrated that their technique might be able to reverse some chemical-caused cloudiness to the cornea — a condition that is currently only treatable through a complete corneal transplant.

EMR at work. Credit: Hill & Wong

“The whole effect was discovered by accident,” explained Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine. “I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.”

Professors Hill and Wong coauthored a proof-of-concept paper in 2023. “That paper was really about asking, is it even possible? Can we change the shape of a cornea without gross damage?” Hill told IEEE Spectrum. “Now, after two more years of work, we’ve systematically gone through the parameters—and we can say yes, it is possible, and we can do it safely.”

The duo tested EMR on rabbit eyeballs, not live rabbits, which will be the next step.  “Nobody’s getting this at the optometrist next year,” Professor Hill cautions. “Now comes the hard work—refining parameters, confirming long-term viability, and making sure treated eyes don’t revert back.”

Still, Professor Hill believes: “There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic. But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible.”

I hope I never need Lasik surgery, much less any other kind of eye surgery, but if I do I sure hope I don’t have to wait until the 22^nd century to get something like EMR.

------------

Cool stuff, both of these. And, in this current environment of attacks on science, I can’t help but include something else Professor Hill points out:

You don’t always know where basic research will lead. We were looking at electroanalytical chemistry, not eye surgery. But those foundational insights are what made this possible. If you cut off that basic research, you don’t get these kinds of unexpected, transformative opportunities.

Amen to that. That’s how we get to the future.