The article explores an experimental treatment using focused ultrasound to target brain circuits involved in addiction without surgery. It follows Erin McNulty, whose long-term drug use led her mother to seek access to a West Virginia trial after seeing the procedure featured on television; the work could offer a less invasive alternative to implanted brain electrodes.

The research is led by neurosurgeon Ali Rezai at West Virginia University, where focused ultrasound can reach deep brain structures in around 20 minutes and allow patients to return home the same day. Rezai’s programme is based in a state with the US’s highest overdose death rate per person, while nearly 45 million Americans meet criteria for substance use disorder and almost 70,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2025. Rezai has performed more than 3,000 deep-brain stimulation operations, including treatments for Parkinson’s disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, brain injury and opioid addiction.