Incisionless Ultrasound Procedure

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The incisionless procedure, also called focused ultrasound, is a non-invasive treatment for essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease that uses focused sound waves to disrupt the brain circuits causing tremor, without incisions or anesthesia.

Essential tremor is a neurologic condition that causes uncontrollable shaking, especially the arms or hands. This movement disorder can prevent a patient from living an independent and active lifestyle, and cause difficulties with basic things we all take for granted.  Brushing teeth, putting ones clothes on, drinking a cup of coffee or using a spoon to eat becomes very difficult.  There are some medications which can be used to reduce the tremors, however there are times where these don’t work and patients will need additional interventions.  Up to recently, surgery was our only fall back if medications failed to help, but with the advent of focused ultrasound, we now have a great non-invasive option.

The incisionless procedure using focused ultrasound provides a minimally invasive treatment option for essential tremor and tremor dominant Parkinson’s disease patients who do not respond to medications.

Neurosurgeon Hooman Azmi is currently performing the procedure at Hackensack University Medical Center. Hear more from one of Dr. Azmi’s patients on his recovery journey.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About the Incisionless Ultrasound Procedure

How is this different from surgery? Unlike traditional treatments such as deep brain stimulation, focused ultrasound requires no incision, no implanted device, and no anesthesia, using precisely targeted sound waves delivered from outside the body instead.