Focused Ultrasound Treatment for Essential Tremor: Benefits, Risks & Recovery

Focused Ultrasound Treatment for Essential Tremor: Benefits, Risks & Recovery

Essential tremor can be misidentified as anxiety or the shakes from getting older. However, essential tremor is one of several major movement disorders, and it can be very functionally limiting. There are innumerable neurological disorders that can cause tremors or shakes. They can be of different degrees of severity, even with the disorders that you may have heard of; someone may be unable to perform a number of tasks that are normally routine, such as writing, eating, or even buttoning.

Regardless of the type of neurological disorder, some patients may simply not respond to the medications. Recently, Focused Ultrasound has been stepping into the spotlight as a breakthrough option for patients who endure the more troublesome tremors. The stream of Focused Ultrasound has given specialists a fresh avenue for exploration that was traditionally reserved for the very long and very complex surgeries.

What is Essential Tremor?

Essential tremor is a shaking of one or several body parts, and for patients with this disorder, the shaking is difficult to control. Most patients with this disorder have the shaking occurring in their hands, and in some cases, the shaking is so visible that the person is made to look almost like a person who is drunk. It is important to realize that essential tremor only manifests when a person is in motion or when the affected body part is in a position to hold something.

This can be compared to Parkinson’s, where a constant tremor is present at all times, as opposed to just during the affected body part’s movement.

Although the reason for the malfunction is not fully understood, there is a possibility of a family member with a genetic disposition causing the malfunction. If a family has one person with essential tremor, there is a likelihood that multiple family members will also be affected by the disorder.

General Indicators of Essential Tremor

Though the indicators of essential tremor can be very extreme and sometimes can be hard to miss, they develop over a period of time, often slowly.

Some easily recognizable indicators can involve:

• a mother’s hand shaking.
• Food and liquid spilling out of the mother’s hand or causing spillage of food and other liquids in the mother’s hands.
• Head shaking among a variety of family members.
• Changes to a family member’s and other people’s ability to control their hands, especially their ability to write or hold and control other objects.
• Manipulation of one’s ability to control and move other body parts.
• Difficulty in controlling and moving one’s body or being able to achieve the desired level of control.
• Shaking of a family member’s voice.

Symptoms can be amplified by fatigue, anxiety or stress.

How is diagnosing essential tremor done?

There is a challenge in diagnosing essential tremor because there is no singular test to diagnose this disorder. In most cases, neurologists will thoroughly evaluate the patient’s medical history and subsequently perform a number of clinical examinations.

Medical history and clinical examination

Doctors assess the:

• Type and pattern of shaking
• Family history of tremors
• When symptoms started
• Presence of tremors at rest or during movement

The presence of tremors during rest can rule out other movement disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease.

Blood tests and imaging

Blood tests are done to find any thyroid or metabolic disorders, as they can also present as tremors.

An MRI can be done to check if there is any structural abnormality in the brain.

What is focused ultrasound treatment?

MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound is a newer treatment option for patients with essential tremors in whom other, more conservative treatment options are not appropriate.

This technique would use MRIs to focus on small lesions and cut the area of the brain responsible for tremors.

Who may benefit from focused ultrasound?

Focused ultrasound is used on patients who have:

• Moderate to severe tremors
• Poorly controlled tremors
• Impairment of their daily functioning
• Not candidates for open brain surgery

After a thorough assessment, the neurologist and the neurosurgeon recommend the use of the Focused Ultrasound Technique.

What Are the Pros of Focused Ultrasound Treatment?

This Treatment is Non-Invasive

Focused Ultrasound Treatment is a popular choice for many people because there’s no need for cuts, stitches, or surgical implants! In fact, compared with regular neurosurgery, the skull is not opened!

Improvements Right After Surgery

Another advantage of Focused Ultrasound Treatment is that a lot of people notice their hand tremors improving during the treatment, or even right after. And daily activities that got super hard to do, become easy again!

Quick Recovery

Focused Ultrasound Treatment is quicker with the recovery time because there are fewer major surgical wounds. And since this treatment is less like regular brain surgery, the recovery time is much faster.

Leave the Hospital Sooner

People usually spend only one or two nights in the hospital.

No Need for Anaesthesia

Because the surgery is performed with the patients awake, the risks of extreme tiredness, which is caused by general anaesthesia, are taken away!

Some Side Effects

Some side effects that may come with it can include:

• Tingling
• Tyzzy
• Dizzy
• Impaired speech
• Inability to walk normally
• Inability to keep your balance.

Many people typically feel like themselves again in a short period of time, and the side effects will slowly disappear. Although some side effects may stay.

A doctor is still required to run the risks and treatment to see what the surgery will help.

What Happens with Focused Ultrasound Treatment?

When surgery isn’t an option, the patient needs a specialized frame to keep their head in a fixed position. During Focused Ultrasound Treatment, doctors carefully adjust the ultrasound beams while the MRI shows them where to go.

This treatment takes hours, and doctors have to keep an eye on the patient throughout and make checks to see if any side effects occur.

While being forced to stay awake may sound bad, for some, it helps due to the fact that it shows the doctors how much the tremors have improved throughout the procedure.

Recovery After Focused Ultrasound

Unlike other surgical procedures, patients have a shorter recovery time.

Recovery Immediately After The Treatment

When the treatment ends, the patient is monitored for hours to see how it affected their walking, talking, and other basic brain functions.

Things Return to Normal, Almost

In a few days, people will go back to work and normal activities. Just avoid working out for a while.

Them Things with Focused Ultrasound

After the procedure, check ups focus on tremors and how the brain is healing. As tremors progress, some people stay on the same meds, but many decrease the number and types of meds drastically.

The question some people ask is: Will Focused Ultrasound knock out Essential Tremor, once and for all?

Focused Ultrasound is excellent for tremors and even helps with an improved quality of life, but because Essential Tremor is a progressive condition, sadly, it is likely to keep on getting worse eventually.

When considering a patient for Focused Ultrasound, a physician will analyse a patient’s age, overall health, the severity of their tremors, and medication response.

Conclusion

Essential tremors can be debilitating and affect one’s overall quality of life. Focused Ultrasound is a cutting-edge, less invasive treatment option with positive outcomes for patients who are unresponsive to pharmaceutical interventions.

The technology allows patients to gain the ability to manage the control of their tremors without having to undergo extensive surgical intervention. Recovery times are short, and the length of hospital stays is minimal when compared with traditional surgeries. Although there are risks with every treatment option, Focused Ultrasound can provide positive results with thorough patient analysis and a precise neurological surgery team. It is advisable that patients with essential tremors of the hands have a thorough analysis by a neurologist.

FAQs

1. Is Focused Ultrasound treatment painful?
No, it is not. Although you are awake, you may feel some movement and pressure, but no pain is associated with this treatment.

2. How long does recovery take after Focused Ultrasound?
Recovery is very quick. On average, you will be able to fully resume your daily activities in just a few days.

3. Does Focused Ultrasound mean you are guaranteed to never feel essential tremors again?
Focused Ultrasound means you will have long-lasting relief from your tremors, but some people do find their essential tremors slowly start to progress again.