New non-invasive treatment for people suffering from neurological disorder

Shanghai International Medical Center successfully used a non-invasive brain disease treatment to cure a patient's long-time tremor in just 15 seconds.

The MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) system is designed for people with nervous system disorders such as essential tremor or Parkinson's disease, and it provides patients with a quick, safe, precise and non-invasive treatment that they can see the effects of right away.

Essential tremor usually starts in middle age or later, and most people with it have a history of it in their family. Over 10 million people in China have the disease, which has a serious impact on their quality of life.

Ti Gong

"Many patients are stressed and depressed. Compared with the traditional treatment of surgery, the non-invasive treatment is a big reform," Dr Sun Bomin, director of the hospital's brain disease treatment center, said. "Many people refuse open-brain surgery due to concerns about the risks and potential complications. There is no need to be concerned about it with non-invasive treatment."

Sun said MRgFUS is a new generation of medical equipment for neuromodulation that combines therapeutic acoustic ultrasound waves with continuous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance to guide physicians to accurately visualize, plan, guide, monitor, and control treatment while the ultrasound acoustic energy destroys the targeted tissue in the brain by thermal ablation.

"During the procedure, the patient is awake and is able to respond to doctors. They can feel the improvement during the procedure," Sun said.

The patient, Liu, said that she suffered from essential tremor for over 10 years.

"It got so bad that I couldn't even eat or wash by myself anymore. I was unable to attend social events, which made me depressed," Liu said. "I came here right away after learning about the novel therapy. My tremor has stopped after only 15 seconds of treatment."