Essential Tremors

Essential Tremors Latest News

Recently, a person suffering successfully underwent the relatively new Magnetic Resonance-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) procedure for his essential tremors.

About Essential Tremors

• It is a neurological disorder that causes hands, head, trunk, voice or legs to shake rhythmically. 
• It is most common among people older than 65, but it can affect people at any age.
• It is one of the most common neurological disorders affecting around 1% of the general population worldwide.

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Causes of Essential Tremors

• The cause of essential tremor is unknown. However, one theory suggests that your cerebellum and other parts of your brain are not communicating correctly. The cerebellum controls muscle coordination.
• In most people, the condition seems to be passed down from a parent to a child.
• And also, if parents have ET, there is a 50% chance that children will inherit the gene responsible for the condition.
• The prevalence increases with age, with approximately 5% of individuals over the age of 60 experiencing it.
• Treatments: There’s no cure for essential tremor, but there are ways to treat it. The main treatment options are medications, assistive devices, botulinum toxin, deep brain stimulation and focused ultrasound. 

Key facts about MRgFUS

• MRgFUS intervention is a non-surgical procedure that uses focused ultrasound waves guided by MRI to target brain tissue responsible for tremors in patients with Parkinson’s disease or essential tremor. 
• It is currently approved for Essential Tremor (ET) and Tremor-Dominant Parkinson’s Disease (TD-PD), this technique offers new hope for patients whose symptoms significantly disrupt daily life.
• MRgFUS treatment targets a key relay centre in the brain i.e thalamus.
• Focused ultrasound energy is used to thermally ablate this specific area, leading to a marked reduction—and in many cases, near-complete resolution—of tremors, often within the same session.

Source: TH