Can tremor return after ultrasound treatment?

MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) treatment was introduced several years ago, and it is difficult to predict whether its effect is lifelong and unchanged over time. Focused ultrasound in tremor therapy is the most effective and promising approach for eliminating tremor today. More than 1000 people with essential tremor worldwide chose this therapy method for tremor control in the first year of this technology’s appearance.

As of 2024, accumulated clinical data suggest that the most persistent effect of treatment with the MRgFUS method is observed in patients with the disease “essential tremor “.

It is important to understand that both essential tremor and, even more so, Parkinson’s disease are currently considered incurable diseases. All treatments, both medicinal and surgical, aim to improve quality of life and address the main symptoms—tremor and stiffness. There is a possibility of tremor returning as the disease progresses.

In Parkinson’s disease and dystonias, the effect is also good and the quality of life improves significantly, but the possibility of partial or complete return of tremor is somewhat higher, as the disease may progress, involving new areas of the brain in the pathological process.

V.S. Buzaev International Medical Centre® – one of the few clinics in the world where repeat intervention is possible within the first year after surgery if tremor returns (provided the patient’s condition and brain allow the procedure). The repeat intervention is performed at no cost to the patient – the clinic covers all expenses for the procedure.

We have developed our own techniques that improve clinical outcomes and reduce the likelihood of tremor recurrence after surgery.

Sources

Research Monograph:

More about the probability of tremor recurrence and its elimination can be read in the research monograph on treating tremor with ultrasound

Research articles:

Nabiullina, D.I., Galimova, R.M., Sidorova, Y.A., Akhmadeeva, G.N., Kashapov, F.F., Safin, Sh.M. and Buzaev, I.V., 2023. Reoperation Using MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound in Patients with Essential Tremor Nervous Diseases , (2), pp.59-63.

Galimova, R.M., Nabiullina, D.I., Illarioshkin, S.N., Safin, Sh.M., Sidorova, Yu.A., Akhmadeeva, G.N., Mukhamadeeva, N.R., Kachemaeva, O.V., Zagidullin, N.Sh., Teregulova, D.R. and Krekotin, D.K., 2022. General results of 2-year application of MRI-guided focused ultrasound in the treatment of movement disorders in the Russian Federation Bulletin of the National Society for the Study of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders , (2), pp.38-42.