Corewell Health in Grand Rapids is the first hospital in the state to offer the treatment known as ‘focused ultrasound:’ a procedure in which surgeons, guided by MRI, target soundwaves to create tiny lesions in the brain to stop signals that cause the tremors.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Luyuan Li performed the first procedure at Corewell Health Butterworth Hospital in May.
“The patient’s tremor should go away instantaneously after about 10-20 seconds of treatment session. The whole procedure is done in the MRI scanner just like getting a regular MRI.”
Recovery is dramatically unlike previous surgical options.
“It's very exciting technology and it's just so different from the traditional surgeries. We don’t make any incisions, so it really limits risk that’s there for almost all surgeries which is bleeding and infection. I don't have to worry about that anymore.”
The outpatient procedure usually takes 1-2 hours. There are side effects.
Patients usually report brain fog and mild headaches in the first few days along with some swelling.
“They may have a little bit of balance problems, or particularly numbness in the corner of their mouth or in their fingers. Most of the side effects if not, not all will go away about a few weeks to a month.”
The procedure could be an option for the more than 200,000 Michiganders living with essential tremor, and thousands of others with tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease.
