MRI guided transcranial focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is a neuromodulation tool that can excite or inhibit neural activity with high spatial precision and real-time functional feedback. Our goal is to develop a MRgFUS device for human pain therapy. Here, we studied suppressive effects of FUS on a key hub in the thalamus for transmitting peripheral inputs to cortex for pain perception, and mapped changes in effective functional connectivity of thalamic networks using hierarchical clustering. We show that concurrently delivered FUS of moderate intensity suppressed painful heat responses at the thalamus target and induced reorganization of effective connectivity networks.
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