If you’re living with hand tremors from Essential Tremor, it can impact your ability to do your favorite activities and even to live independently.
Fortunately, there is non-surgical help available: Focused Ultrasound, a state-of-the-art procedure at Regional One Health, is proven to treat tremors with no incision or hospital stay.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Jason Gerrard said it’s an excellent option for patients who don’t want to have surgery or who have tried other treatments without success.
Hand tremors from essential tremor can have an enormous negative impact on quality of life, and too many people don’t realize they can be treated without surgery.
As medical director of Regional One Health’s Focused Ultrasound program, neurosurgeon Dr. Jason Gerrard can help patients get significant, lasting relief from tremors in just a few hours.
“With Focused Ultrasound, there’s no incision, no surgery, no general anesthesia, and no hospital stay. It may sound like a miracle, but it’s actually an evidence-based, state-of-the-art technology that uses MR imaging and ultrasound energy focused to ablate the location in the brain causing tremors,” Dr. Gerrard said.
Focused ultrasound patients must be at least 22 years old with a confirmed diagnosis of essential tremor or tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. You need to have tried at least two medications without success, and we’ll do a CT scan of your skull to make sure it’s compatible.
Dr. Jason Gerrard is the director of Regional One Health’s Focused Ultrasound program. “There’s no incision, no surgery, no general anesthesia, and no hospital stay. It may sound like a miracle, but it’s actually an evidence-based, state-of-the-art technology,” he said.
Patients who qualify have the procedure at Regional One Health’s comfortable, convenient East Campus Imaging Center, located in East Memphis at 6555 Quince Road.
Dr. Gerrard described what to expect during a focused ultrasound. “When you arrive, we’ll shave your head and fit you with a specialized head frame. These steps are needed to hold the head still and accurately focus the ultrasound energy,” he said. “During your procedure, you’ll lie on a treatment table. The upper half of your body will move in and out of an MRI several times over 1-2 hours. After I locate the spot in your brain that’s causing your tremor, I use ultrasound energy to create a small therapeutic ablation. This causes the tremor to stop right before your eyes.”
“You’re awake the whole time! That’s important, because I’ll ask you how you’re feeling and to perform simple tasks like drawing a spiral or touching your finger to my finger. This lets me gauge how well your treatment is working.”
After that, patients are taken to a recovery room. Once the medical team makes sure you aren’t having problems, you can go home.
Most patients leave with major tremor relief, Dr. Gerrard reported. The main possible side effects are mild fatigue, headache, dizziness, clumsiness, numbness and speech difficulty. Most potential side effects clear up within a few days to weeks. Many patients experience no side effects.
After a focused ultrasound procedure, most patients go home the same day and enjoy immediate, lasting tremor relief that allows them to live independently and get back to activities they enjoy.
More good news – the FDA recently approved Focused Ultrasound for both hands; previously, doctors could only treat one side of the body. “Now, nine months after your first procedure, we can treat your other hand if there are significant tremors on both sides,” Dr. Gerrard said.
It’s hard to understate the impact this procedure can have on a patient’s life.
“People get back to favorite activities like sewing, painting and gardening. They can cook and clean. Perhaps most importantly, they can be independent – they don’t need someone else to help them eat, drink, bathe, etc.,” Dr. Gerrard said. “My team loves helping patients get back to the things they enjoy. Focused Ultrasound may not be an actual miracle, but for the patients we help, it can certainly seem that way!