Wei Chieh, Chang
ChairPerson
Title: Preliminary experience in Taiwan of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery for patients with essential tremor
Biography
Biography: Wei Chieh, Chang
Abstract
During the study period, a total of 12 patients (10 males and 2 females, age from 27 to 76 years-old and symptoms persisted from 6 to 35 years) with ET were successfully underwent MRgFUS unilateral VIM thalamotomy (10 left VIMs and 2 right VIMs). All the enrolled patients were evaluated before the treatment and after with a clinical control of the treatment effectiveness. The target was defined real time with patient’s subjective statements during low power sonication. As a consequence, the treatment protocol was adapted by applying repetition of the final temperatures 56°C to 59°C. MRI showed thermal lesions on VIM in T2-weighted (T2w) images after sonication. All the ET treated patients who completed the procedure showed immediately free from tremor , with no intra- or post operation severe permanent side effects.
CONCLUSIONS:
This is the first experience in Taiwan of a unilateral thalamotomy using the MRgFUS. Our experience demonstrated the feasibility, safety, and accuracy of the MRgFUS thalamotomy in treating ET. In the treatment of movement disorders, the MRgFUS may be an alternative choice.