Transcranial ultrasound pulse stimulation reduces cortical atrophy in Alzheimer's patients: A follow‐up study

INTRODUCTION: Ultrasound for the brain is a revolutionary therapeutic concept. The first clinical data indicate that 2–4 weeks of therapy with transcranial pulse stimulation (TPS) improve functional networks and cognitive performance of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients for up to 3 months. No data currently exist on possible benefits concerning brain morphology, namely the cortical atrophy characteristic of AD. METHODS: We performed a pre‐/post‐therapy analysis of cortical thickness in a group of N = 17 AD patients. RESULTS: We found a significant correlation between neuropsychological improvement and cortical thickness increase in AD‐critical brain areas. DISCUSSION: AD patients who benefit from TPS appear to manifest reduced cortical atrophy within the default mode network in particular, whose memory‐related subsystems are believed to be disrupted in AD. TPS may therefore hold promise as a new add‐on therapy for AD.