Parkinson’s disease patients achieved significant improvement in their tremors, mobility and other physical symptoms after undergoing a minimally invasive procedure involving focused ultrasound.
The clinical trial was led by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and involved 94 Parkinson’s disease patients who were randomly assigned to undergo focused ultrasound to remove a specific region on one side of the brain. or to undergo a sham procedure. Nearly 70% of patients in the treatment group were considered to have successfully responded to treatment after three months of follow-up, compared with 32% in the control group who had an inactive procedure without focused ultrasound.
Two-thirds of those who initially responded to focused ultrasound treatment went on to have a successful response to treatment one year later.
Focused ultrasound is a non-incision procedure, performed without the need for anesthesia or hospital admission. Patients, who remain fully alert, lie in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner and wear a transducer headset. Ultrasonic energy is directed through the skull to the globus pallidus, a structure deep in the brain that helps control regular voluntary movement. MRI images provide doctors with a real-time temperature map of the area being treated, to precisely identify the target and apply a high enough temperature to ablate it. During the procedure, the patient is awake and provides feedback, allowing clinicians to monitor the immediate effects of tissue ablation and make adjustments as needed.
The device, called the Exablate Neuro, was approved more than a year ago by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat advanced Parkinson’s disease on one side of the brain. The FDA approval was based on the findings of the UMSOM clinical trial published today. The procedure is now widely available at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC).
Adverse events from the procedure included headache, dizziness, and nausea that resolved within one to two days of treatment. Some patients experienced mild side effects with focused ultrasound treatment, such as slurred speech, trouble walking, and loss of taste. These usually resolve within the first few weeks.
This study was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
1 comment
In July last year, I started on PARKINSON DISEASE TREATMENT PROTOCOL from Health Natural Centre (ww w. healthnaturalcentre. org). One month into the treatment, I made a significant recovery. After I completed the recommended treatment, almost all my symptoms were gone, great improvement with my movement and balance. Its been a year, life has been amazing