Focused ultrasound thalamotomy improves motor symptoms in Parkinson's Disease: NEJM
Delhi: Focused ultrasound subthalamotomy in one hemisphere helped in improving motor features of Parkinson's disease in selected patients with asymmetric signs, finds a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, it was associated with adverse events including dyskinesia, weakness on the treated side, and speech and gait disturbances.
Focused ultrasound thalamotomy has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat essential and parkinsonian tremors.
The preferred neurosurgical target for deep-brain stimulation to treat cardinal motor features of Parkinson's disease is the subthalamic nucleus. Focused ultrasound is an imaging-guided method for creating therapeutic lesions in deep-brain structures, including the subthalamic nucleus.
The study included 40 patients with markedly asymmetric Parkinson's disease who had motor signs not fully controlled by medication or who were ineligible for deep-brain stimulation surgery. They were assigned in a 2:1 ratio to undergo focused ultrasound subthalamotomy on the side opposite their main motor signs (n=27) or a sham procedure (n=13).
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