Dr. Ferenc Jolesz, a pioneer of MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) surgery, has died, according to an announcement from the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. Jolesz died suddenly early on December 31, according to the foundation.
Originally trained as a neurosurgeon in his native Hungary, Jolesz moved to the U.S. in 1979 and expanded his training to radiology and neuroradiology at Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH).
He was director of advanced MRI at the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center and director of the MRI division and the image-guided therapy program at BWH, where he oversaw and participated in both clinical practice and translational research. In the early 1990s, Jolesz and colleagues introduced the intraoperative use of MRI for neurosurgery and applications such as prostate brachytherapy, according to his biography on a Harvard website.
He also introduced the first MRgFUS procedure, used for the treatment of uterine fibroids and malignant tumors of the breast, liver, and prostate. Some 100 MRgFUS systems are now installed globally.
Jolesz had received a kidney transplant in early 2014, his second after receiving an initial transplant from his daughter seven years earlier, according to a January 2014 article in the Patriot Ledger.
