Focused Ultrasound

This procedure can be done while the patient is awake. It is also not a traditional surgery. It happens inside an MRI scanner. The scanner allows the physician to precisely plan, guide, and target a small, specific area of your brain. The scanner also measures, very precisely, the increased temperature in the brain caused by the ultrasound energy. This allows it to precisely treat only the intended target.

Your specialist will deliver ultrasound energy focused on an extremely small target in the brain (the VIM of the thalamus). This energy causes a small burn in the targeted tissue. 

Because ultrasound can pass through skin, muscle, fat, and bone without incisions, it is an ideal treatment tool. Ultrasound energy is also non-ionizing, meaning that you are not exposed to potentially dangerous radiation during the procedure.

Before Treatment

To start your treatment, you will meet the nurse who will be shaving and cleaning your scalp. This same nurse will be with you throughout the procedure. Comfort measures will be taken as you receive medications for anxiety and pain, and staff will place a urinary catheter in your bladder so you won’t have to go to the bathroom during the procedure.

You will be given numbing medication before a frame is placed on your head to prevent any movement during the procedure. A silicon membrane is then placed on the head to allow for circulation of cool water. This will minimize potential heating near the scalp.

Your heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygen levels will be monitored throughout the procedure.

Planning the Treatment

Next, you will lie on the bed that will move you in and out of the MRI device. You will be conscious throughout the procedure so you can communicate with the physicians and nurses, and your specialists will perform the procedure from a computer in the room next to the MRI suite. They will be able to monitor you through the window to the MRI suite as well as with a camera, and you will have a nurse in the MRI suite with you to monitor your vital signs and ensure you are doing well.

To plan the procedure, MRI images will be obtained so that your physician can locate the area to be treated. Small doses of ultrasound energy will be given to help confirm proper target in the brain.

You will be given a Stop button to hold during the procedure, so you can pause the treatment at any time. Cool water from your helmet will circulate around the top of your head to prevent heating from the ultrasound.

During Treatment

During the sonication treatment, your physician will ask you questions and have you perform tasks like writing or tracing lines to confirm the tremor is improving.

Once your physician is confident of the location, the focused ultrasound energy will be increased in the same location to make the improvement in tremor permanent.

The procedure typically lasts a few hours. The time depends on many factors associated with the shape and density of your skull.

After Treatment

After coming out of the MRI machine, we will remove the frame from your head before scanning a few more images to confirm the location of the treatment. After these images, you will be moved to a recovery room. Most patients will be able to go home later that day.

Before discharge, monitoring equipment will be removed and you will receive specific discharge instructions from your doctor. Usually nothing is required, although your doctor may recommend over-the-counter pain relief medication.

Your physician will let you know when you need to return for any follow-up visits. You will also be told whom to contact in case of an emergency after the procedure.

Most patients are able to return to work and normal activities within days.