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Scalpel-free surgery using focused sound waves appears to be as effective in treating essential tremor as traditional surgery that requires drilling into the skull, a groundbreaking clinical trial at the University of Virginia Health System has found.

 

All 15 participants in U.Va.'s trial saw a substantial reduction in their involuntary shaking after undergoing the experimental focused ultrasound procedure. The rate of side effects was similar to that of traditional brain surgery. The patients were able to leave the hospital the next day.

 

U.Va. neurosurgeon Dr. Jeffrey Elias, the trial's principal investigator, presented the findings at last month's 80th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in Miami.

 

"It's really profound, because [focused ultrasound] dramatically improves their quality of life and alleviates all their disabilities in day-to-day activities. These people have problems doing the basic things we take for granted, like eating soup, or teeing up their golf ball, using a screwdriver," Elias said. "They can do all those things after the treatment."