22 Mar 2023 • An innovative, noninvasive strategy for decreasing dyskinesia, or involuntary movements, and motor impairment in Parkinson's disease patients is presented in a recent study. Focused ultrasound is used in the novel technique. When compared to trial participants who underwent a sham, or placebo, therapy, twice as many patients reported improvement in dyskinesia and motor impairment three months after receiving the incisionless method. In 77% of individuals who responded to the medication, the gains persisted for up to a year. People who undergo the focused ultrasound treatment can go home the same day. The study appears in The New England Journal of Medicine. Levodopa, also known as L-DOPA, which replenishes dopamine in the brain, is the most widely used medication for the illness. Yet, for many people, the dyskinesia and motor dysfunction they encounter are actually side effects of L-DOPA therapy. A tiny group of neurons in the brain's globus pallidus area are removed using focused ultrasound therapy. Ablation destroys the tissue by scarring it.  Dr. Eisenberg, Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Maryland Medical System and study co-author, observed that deep brain stimulation is preferred to ablation for treating essential tremor (DBS). However, DBS necessitates creating one or more tiny holes in the skull. For those people who don't want deep brain stimulation (DBS), focused ultrasound is a good option. And, he added, the advantages provided by the new focused ultrasound approach are still significant enough to be life-altering.

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