First UCI Health patient treated for essential tremor with incision-free MR-guided focused ultrasound
Program uses focused sound waves to quiet essential tremor and tremors related to Parkinson’s disease
Orange, Calif. — The first patient has been treated with the new MR-guided focused ultrasound system at UCI Health. The procedure successfully lessened the patient’s symptoms of essential tremor in his right hand.
The patient, a male in his 70s from southeastern Los Angeles, was diagnosed with essential tremor in his early teens. For decades, the symptoms didn’t impact his daily life. About four years ago, the patient’s tremors in both hands began to make it difficult for him to cook, eat, brush his teeth and hold items. His physician, UCI Health neurologist Dr. Sanaz Attaripour Isfahani, referred him to neurosurgeon Dr. Michelle Paff who administered the focused ultrasound treatment. He will soon undergo the same treatment for his left hand.
The incision-free treatment is a breakthrough outpatient treatment option for patients living with essential tremor and tremor-predominant Parkinson’s disease. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved procedure uses MRI to precisely direct acoustic energy, or sound waves, at a tiny area in the brain and destroy the tissue causing the tremors.
Essential tremor is one of the most common movement disorders, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The involuntary shaking typically occurs in one or both hands without other neurological signs, making it difficult to complete basic activities such as eating, grooming, writing and more.
The patient experienced results as soon as treatment was completed. His right hand is now steady as a rock, he says. He is now looking forward to the next round of treatment to steady his other hand.
A second patient was also treated with focused ultrasound last week and responded well.
The focused ultrasound program, located on the UCI Health — Irvine medical campus in the Joe C. Wen & Family Center for Advanced Care, advances the clinical expertise of the neurologists and neurosurgeons at Orange County’s only academic health system. It complements the health system’s growing movement disorder services rooted in research excellence and innovation.
UCI Health also offers the therapy for tremor-dominant Parkinson's disease and, in some cases, to treat Parkinson's disease that is resistant to standard medications.
For additional information about the procedure, visit the Focused Ultrasound Program or call 714-509-2005.
About UCI Health
UCI Health is one of California’s largest academic health systems and the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. Established on July 1, 1976, UCI Health has grown into a 1,461-bed health system that includes UCI Health — Orange, UCI Health — Irvine, four Community Network hospitals and a growing network of ambulatory care centers across Orange and Los Angeles counties. As Orange County’s only academic health systems, UCI Health is home to the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in the county, the region’s only American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, American College of Emergency Physicians Gold Level 1 Geriatric Emergency Department and a nationally recognized regional burn center verified by the American Burn Association. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people across Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County through excellence in patient care, research and medical education. Follow UCI Health on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.