Duke neurosurgeons have begun a non-invasive program to treat essential tremor using high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) — an FDA-approved treatment that can reduce tremors by about 70 percent.
Focused ultrasound offers a next generation incisionless outpatient procedure for patients with essential tremor or Parkinson's disease who don't get relief from medications. HIFU relies on an MRI technique called diffusion tensor imaging to accurately target and direct sound waves to a tiny area of the brain that helps regulate movement.
Neurosurgeons Nandan Lad, MD, PhD, and Stephen Harward, MD, PhD, and team recently treated the first patient at Duke, with remarkable results. Lad says the procedure has been refined over the past few years.
"There’s a focused ultrasound machine that is tailored for delivering 1,000 beams of ultrasound energy to a very specific target in that tremor circuit," said Lad. “When we disconnect that tremor circuit, the tremor stops.”
Patients usually return home the same day. "With no incisions or implants, there is little to no risk of infection," said Harward.
Read more about this treatment on dukehealth.org.
The photo above shows the improvement in a patient's handwriting immediately before and and after treatment with HIFU.