High-intensity ultrasound, like what the Fry brothers used, is already approved to treat a handful of conditions, including uterine fibroids, certain kinds of prostate cancer, and symptoms of Parkinson’s that can’t be treated with drugs. But ultrasound can also be delivered in low intensities to alter neural activity in the brain.
The ability to get deep into the brain without holes or incisions is why Rezai and others are so excited about ultrasound. Other types of noninvasive stimulation, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, only breach the outer layers of the brain. They can’t penetrate the nucleus accumbens, the pea-sized part of the brain Rezai is targeting for addiction. Rezai wanted to see if focused ultrasound could.
In 2021, with permission from the Food and Drug Administration, Rezai and his team at WVU launched an exploratory trial to test the safety of focused ultrasound in volunteers with addiction. They used an FDA-approved machine designed to emit high-intensity waves but turned the power way down, starting off with a low dose and gradually increasing it.
Rezai had no idea how long the effects of a one-time ultrasound procedure might last. Almost immediately, the approach showed promise. “The cravings went down live on the table,” he says. The volunteers started to report feeling, well, different.
With the TV segment on Rezai occupying her thoughts, Linda intensified her efforts to find Erin. A few days later, Linda found her in a hotel in downtown Burlington. Erin had been staying with an ex-boyfriend. “She was in pretty rough condition,” Linda says.
She brought Erin home to their house in the country and told her about the study. Erin watched the video over and over. She felt hopeful, but she was also scared. She had experienced anxiety and depression for much of her life, and drugs were a way to cope. She felt her most normal when she was taking drugs, which is what kept her using.
“It absolutely took over,” Erin says. “I couldn’t get out of it.” The drive to get meth overrode everything else in her life, including being a mother and putting a roof over her head. She wanted to get better, but she couldn’t imagine not doing meth anymore.
Linda was convinced that Rezai’s study was her daughter’s way out. To be considered, Erin needed to be in active treatment within the WVU Medicine system. Linda planned to fly with her daughter and granddaughter to Pittsburgh, the closest major airport to Morgantown, and drive the rest of the way, about an hour and a half. But it took three tries to get Erin on the plane. Their first flight was early in the morning, and they didn’t make it to the airport on time. During the second attempt, they were waiting to board the plane when Erin said she had to use the bathroom. Instead, she walked out of the airport. The third time, Erin’s daughter held her hand during boarding and didn’t let go.
They made it to Morgantown, and in April 2024 Erin checked into the Center for Hope and Healing, a residential treatment facility affiliated with WVU, which was recruiting for Rezai’s study. When her mother and daughter left, Erin was miserable.
