Posted on 02/22/2023 8:58:47 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Patients with Parkinson's disease achieved a significant improvement in their tremors, mobility, and other physical symptoms after having a minimally invasive procedure involving focused ultrasound, according to a new study today published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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 ablate a targeted region on one side of the brain or to have a sham procedure. Nearly 70 percent of patients in the treatment group were considered successful responders to treatment after three months of follow-up, compared to 32 percent in the control group who had an inactive procedure without focused ultrasound.
Two-thirds of those who responded initially to the focused ultrasound treatment continued to have a successful response from the treatment a year later.
Focused ultrasound is an incisionless procedure, performed without the need for anesthesia or an in-patient stay in the hospital. Patients, who remain fully alert, lie in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, wearing a transducer helmet. Ultrasonic energy is targeted 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 pinpoint the target and to apply a high enough temperature to ablate it. During the procedure, the patient is awake and providing feedback, which allows doctors to monitor the immediate effects of the tissue ablation and make adjustments as needed.
The device, called Exablate Neuro, was approved over a year ago by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat advanced Parkinson's disease on one side of the brain.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
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Brilliant. Hope it works.
Such a cruel disease. Good news they are finding more things that help. Thanks for posting this.
Wonder if the procedure knocks apart all the tangled web of amyloid B gunk in the brain? Even if temporary, at least it gives the patient a decent slug of drug holiday and return of lots of function.
My friend who has Parkinson’s had this treatment and it was quite effective for him. The only downside was he had some difficulty walking afterwards, which has gradually improved.
This is a reasonably lasting treatment that does not require any open surgery.
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1. Focused ultrasound works by killing brain tissue.
2. Your “reasonably lasting” comment assumes that readers would know that the beneficial effects of such procedures are transient. The tremors return, and progressively larger brain areas must be killed off in order to retain the benefit.
People should consider these things thoroughly before embarking on focused ultrasound treatments.
Wonder if the procedure knocks apart all the tangled web of amyloid B gunk in the brain?
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I think beta amyloid represents Alzheimer’s plaque mass. Amyloid tangles are the culprit in essential tremor. I have it and yes, focused ultrasound is an option. I just don’t yet see the up sides outweighing the down sides.
I think a more permanent solution lies in prevention of protein mis-folding, or prion reversal. This technology is in its infancy, though.
Alzheimer’s Disease is a ‘Double-Prion Disorder,’ Study Shows:
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2019/05/414326/alzheimers-disease-double-prion-disorder-study-shows
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