Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy for Tremor-dominant Parkinson’s Disease: A Prospective 1-year Follow-up Study

Transcranial magnetic resonance (MR)-guided focused ultrasound (FUS) therapy is an emerging and minimally invasive treatment for movement disorders. There are limited reports on its long-term outcomes for tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease (TDPD). We aimed to investigate the 1-year outcomes of ventralis intermedius (VIM) thalamotomy with FUS in patients with TDPD. Patients with medication-refractory TDPD were enrolled and underwent unilateral VIM-FUS thalamotomy. Neurologists specializing in movement disorders evaluated the tremor symptoms and disability using Parts A, B, and C of the Clinical Rating Scale for Tremor (CRST) at baseline and at 1, 3, and 12 months. In all, 11 patients (mean age: 71.6 years) were included in the analysis. Of these, five were men. The median (interquartile range) improvement from baseline in hand tremor score, the total score, and functional disability score were 87.9% (70.5–100.0), 65.3% (55.7–87.7), and 66.7% (15.5–85.1), respectively, at 12 months postoperatively. This prospective study demonstrated an improvement in the tremor and disability of patients at 12 months after unilateral VIM-FUS thalamotomy for TDPD. In addition, there were no serious persistent adverse events. Our results indicate that VIM-FUS thalamotomy can be safely and effectively used to treat patients with TDPD. A randomized controlled trial with a larger cohort and long blinded period would help investigate the recurrence, adverse effects, placebo effects, and longer efficacy of this technique.