ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MISound zaps tremors

(02/16/12) - The best way to stop tremors may be with sound. A new treatment may one day help thousands with diseases like Parkinson's. Tremors are involuntary muscle movements that can make everyday tasks almost impossible.

Some procedures designed to fix the problem involve cutting into the brain. But, a non-invasive breakthrough procedure could change that for a lot of patients.

Billy Williams knows what it is like to live with uncontrollable tremors. "My hand shook constantly," he said.

He says he has suffered with it for 10 years. "Constantly, it never, never quit."

No one knows why he shakes, but the tremor was so bad, Billy stopped going out to eat. "I had trouble writing my name, really, I couldn't sign anything."

Now, neurosurgeons are using a new procedure called MRI Guided Focused Ultrasound to stop certain types of tremors.

"It involves high resolution MRI scanning as well as ultrasound technology," says Dr. Jeff Elias, a neurosurgeon at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Elias says the new scalpel-free surgery is the first to use ultrasound in the brain to treat tremors. "We really have to be precise to within a millimeter to stop the tremor."

Doctors can get that precise by using the MRI scanner. It aims pulses of harmless ultrasound waves through a patient's skull to a targeted region in the brain. The waves converge, heat up, and kill tremor-causing cells.

"It allows us the opportunity to test the patient during the treatment,"  Dr. Elias said.

Billy says it helped his tremor get better. "Almost immediately after the procedure my hand was as it is right now."

The world's first clinical trials using MRI guided focused ultrasound to treat essential tremors recently wrapped up at the University of Virginia Health System. Patients are reportedly experiencing immediate improvements that have been sustained through the study's three month follow-up period.

Future trials are hoped to determine if the technology is effective against brain disorders like Parkinson's, Epilepsy and stroke.