“Everytime I wake up in the morning, I wonder who she is.”
Music has always been a way for Rick Karr to express himself.
The joys and the hardships.
And this song, inspired by his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease.
“It robs you of your life, of who you were and what you’ve done and those memories…”
“I said, you know something I truly believe that I would like to be known as somebody
who helped someone else down the road eh? So"
And he is, becoming the first Alzheimer’s patient in the world to participate in a study
that could forever change treatment of the disease.
It’s using a technology called focused ultrasound to break through the blood brain barrier.
The blood brain barrier is like a plastic wrap surrounding some areas of the brain.
Breaking it open offers a doorway to delivering medications directly and non-invasively to
previously unreachable spots.
Rick is fitted with this specialized helmet-like device – co-developed based on Sunnybrook
research – and placed inside an MRI.
There, he is injected with microbubbles, or microscopic bits of air, that circulate in
his bloodstream.
The MRI helps guide ultrasound waves to precise areas in his brain that shake the microbubbles,
temporarily opening his blood brain barrier -- seen here in these bright spots.
Dr. Nir Lipsman is the lead investigator.
“It’s what we call a phase one study.
It’s focused on safety to figure out exactly what, if any, are the effects of having the blood
brain barrier open temporarily.”
And for Rick, the attempt to open the blood brain barrier worked.
Dr. Nir Lipsman: “So you see three by three, you can faintly see them there
But you see contrast enhancement in this region where we targeted
with the focused ultrasound.”
Dr. Sandra Black is the study's co-principal investigator.
“It just took two ultrasound treatments to show the blood brain barrier can be opened.
It’s very exciting. I feel quite emotional about it because there is a lot riding on
this, and it’s a whole new world of possibilities.
But we have to take one step at a time. We have to make sure it’s safe.”
Rick is observed closely, with follow up brain scans and clinical tests.
After one month, the procedure is done again on a larger area of his brain.
And again, it works.
In 2015, researchers at Sunnybrook made history by successfully and safely opening the blood
brain barrier in a person non-invasively.
But Rick is the first patient with Alzheimer’s disease to have this procedure.
Phase one of this study will include five additional Alzheimer’s patients.
Dr. Kullervo Hynynen helped develop the focused ultrasound technology with industry partner
Insightec.
“It’s satisfying to get to this point but still there’s a long way to go.
We need years of experience before we can use it widely for patients.”
Worldwide, one person is diagosed with Alzheimer’s disease every three seconds.
“That’s why we need new ways of doing things.
And focused ultrasound is a very revolutionary way that we might be able to get important
drugs into the brain.”
That’s something future studies may explore if this one proves successful, thanks to patients
like Rick.
“You can’t stop time.
So what you do is live your life the best you can.
If I can help somebody down the road, you know, I’d be a very selfish person if I didn’t want
to do that.”
With Sunnyview, I’m Monica Matys.