Ultrasound treatment shows promise for managing tremor

Researchers at INSIGHTEC, a company with a focus on non-invasive surgical treatments, carried out a trial of their focused ultrasound treatment on 66 people with essential tremor and found significant improvements in hand tremor after 3 months.

Essential tremor is a type of uncontrollable shake or tremble in part of the body.

It is a separate condition to Parkinson's but this form of treatment may prove to be helpful for people with Parkinson's in the future.

What is focused ultrasound treatment?

Focused ultrasound is a surgical technique that uses crossing beams of ultrasound to precisely target particular tissues in the body.

Each individual ultrasound beam passes through tissue harmlessly, but where multiple beams meet the energy becomes intense. This form of treatment is still developing but is already approved to treat certain types of tumours.

In this study, focused ultrasound was used to target cells in the specific part of the brain that cause tremor.

Could this treatment be used for Parkinson's?

Surgical treatments that work in a similar way to focused ultrasound – by targeting particular cells – are already available for Parkinson's.

These treatments can help to control certain movement symptoms, such as tremor or involuntary movements (dyskinesia), but require quite invasive treatment.

With focused ultrasound, there is no need to make a cut or insert anything into the brain.

Dr Beckie Port, Senior Research Communications Officer at Parkinson's UK, comments:

"Studies using focused ultrasound for Parkinson's are currently underway and if successful they could provide a non-invasive alternative treatment for people with Parkinson's.

"Whilst surgery can help control movement symptoms for some people with Parkinson's, it is not suitable for everyone, and will not stop the condition from progressing.

"There is still an urgent need to find treatments that can slow or stop the progression of Parkinson's."