![]() ![]() If you have essential tremor (ET), you may be prescribed pills-and you may not be happy with the results. If you can’t sleep, you take a sleeping aid tablet. News & World Report for 2022-23, meaning we are ranked among the top 10% of in the nation.If you have a headache, you take a pain reliever pill. For those reasons and others, Tampa General Hospital has earned “high performing” designation for Neurology & Neurosurgery by U.S. Equipped with a state-of-the-art intraoperative MRI surgical suite, our neurosurgeons have access to high-resolution, real-time images of the brain during and after procedures, allowing for an unprecedented level of precision and excellent outcomes. Tampa General Hospital’s Neuroscience Institute is the first on the west coast of Florida to perform and offer focused ultrasound. Effective Focused Ultrasound Treatment at TGH Patients will also follow up with their movement disorders' neurologist over the course of that time. The physician will let the patient know when they can go home and when they will need to return for a follow-up visit.įollow-up appointments generally occur two weeks after the procedure and continue one month, three months, six months and a year after the procedure. Recoveryįollowing the procedure, the patient will move to the recovery room, where the focused ultrasound helmet device is removed. Many patients show immediate improvement in their tremor and improvement is long-lasting.įocused ultrasound is designed to be an outpatient procedure, meaning the patient can go home on the same day as the procedure. The overall procedure typically takes two-and-a-half hours. Each of the individual ultrasound beams are harmless, and it is only where they meet at the targeted area that tissues are heated to the point of ablation. After each one, the patient will perform tasks, such as touching his or her nose, allowing the physician to evaluate improvement until the targeted area is completely ablated. ![]() The treating neurosurgeon then proceeds to apply one or more treatments of high-intensity ultrasound to make the final ablation. This feedback allows the treating neurosurgeon to adjust the treatment before high-energy ultrasound is applied. At first, low-energy ultrasound is applied to the targeted area, allowing the patient to provide feedback of tremor improvement as well as any potential side effects. The treating neurosurgeon identifies the target area based off of high-resolution MRI scans, and a total of 1,024 individual ultrasound transducers are then precisely focused on the targeted area. Speech-language pathologists and physical therapists provide care to patients for symptoms related to the procedure or the disease process.ĭuring a focused ultrasound treatment, the patient remains awake and lies inside an MRI scanner with his/her head in the focused ultrasound helmet-like device. However, with any medical procedure, there are risks that may include speech issues or ataxia, which is a group of disorders that affect coordination, balance and speech. Overall, focused ultrasound treatment has been shown to be safe for treating disabling tremors and select patients with Parkinson’s disease with minimal risk. Quick recovery time (patients may return to daily activities within a day of the procedure)įDA approved – safe and effective with minimal side effects Outpatient procedure (patients typically go home on the day of the procedure) Immediate resolution of symptoms for many patients Reduced risk of infection to non-targeted areas of the brain What Are the Benefits of Focused Ultrasound?īenefits of focused ultrasound treatment may include: Tampa General Hospital’s Neuroscience Institute is the first on the west coast of Florida to perform and offer this groundbreaking treatment. As such, disabling tremor is immediately abolished and the patients are sent home the same day. During treatment, ultrasound waves pass safely through a patient’s skull to precisely heat and destroy specific regions deep inside the brain that are involved in generating tremor. This groundbreaking treatment option is guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and does not require incisions or invasive probes. In addition, it has been recently approved for use in select patients with Parkinson’s disease experiencing stiffness, slowness, and medication-induced dyskinesias affecting predominantly one side of the body. Focused ultrasound (FUS), also known as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), is a minimally invasive treatment option for patients with a disabling tremor – a neurological condition in which uncontrollable tremor occurs during movement. ![]()
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