Certain neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, can be difficult to treat due at least in part to the impermeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Mechanical stress induced by the activation of microbubbles in an acoustic field is one noninvasive technique to temporarily open the BBB, and can be performed without damaging the surrounding tissue. BBB opening with focused ultrasound (FUS) can be performed in some animals, including mice, rabbits, rats, and pigs. However, extending this technique to other species can be difficult due to differences in physiology and anatomy.
A passive cavitation detector (PCD) can be used to transcranially acquire acoustic emissions from interaction between a microbubble and brain tissue during BBB opening in mice. This manner of transcranial cavitation detection in other species, for example monkeys, can be more difficult at least in part because the thickness and attenuation of a monkey skull can be as much as about 2.5 times higher than a murine skull. Thus, improved systems and techniques for opening of a tissue barrier in primates, including systems and techniques for performing in vivo transcranial and noninvasive cavitation detection are needed.