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, one of California’s largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The 1,461-bed system comprises its main campus UCI Health — Orange, its flagship hospital, the UCI Health — Irvine acute care hospital and medical campus, four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and a network of ambulatory care centers across the region. UCI Health — Orange provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to the only Orange County-based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).