Parkinson's tremors could be treated with SOUNDWAVES, claim scientists who use ultrasonic pulses to destroy damaged parts of the brain

• e-mail

Zapping the brains of Parkinson's patients with ultrasound waves could relieve their shakes and stop them needing surgery, a study suggests.  

Researchers found 95 per cent of patients in a trial saw an immediate reduction of their tremors after being treated with high-frequency soundwaves.

And less than one in 10 (eight per cent) experienced side effects over the next six months.

The therapy worked by concentrating vibrations on tiny specific areas of the brain to heat up and destroy rogue nerves which cause Parkinson's symptoms. 

Zapping the brains of Parkinson's patients with ultrasound waves could relieve their shakes and remove the need for painful surgery, Italian researchers have found (file)

The shaking in Parkinson's is caused by faulty circuits in the thalamus, a small area at the base of the brain.

Medics target this with high-frequency soundwaves. These ultrasound beams generate heat that breaks the abnormal circuit causing the tremor.

The therapy was approved by the UK watchdog NICE last June and is currently being trialled at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

But it is only being tested on people with essential tremor (ET) – a neurological condition which leaves sufferers with uncontrollable shakes.

The latest study will give hope to thousands of Parkinson's who have been pushing for clinical trials to start on patients with their disease.

Researchers from the University of L'Aquila in Italy looked at 39 patients with an average age of 65 whose shakes had not been curbed by drugs.

The participants, 18 of whom had ET and 21 with Parkinson's – people can have either one without the other, or both together – had experienced symptoms for an average of more than a decade.

Scientists evaluated the patients for tremor severity and quizzed them on their quality of life before and immediately after treatment, as well as twice in the following year.

They found 37 of 39 patients saw their shakes greatly reduced immediately after ultrasound treatment.

Their symptoms were kept at bay in follow-up evaluations at six months and one year, researchers say.

Seven patients experienced side effects including limb weakness, tingling and slurred speech after the treatment.

But at a follow-up six months later, these had been cured in all but three of them. 

Because it is minimally invasive, the new treatment reduces the risk of complications of bleeding and infections, said study lead author Dr Federico Bruno.

Dr Bruno, from the the department of biotechnological and applied clinical sciences at the University of L'Aquila, added: 'Another advantage is the immediate effect this treatment provides, unlike deep brain stimulation which requires a break-in period for the electrostimulation.

'Additionally, treatment with MRgFUS [ultrasound] requires shorter hospitalization and is a fairly well-tolerated procedure even by more fragile patients.'

The research will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). 

Dr Beckie Port, research manager at charity Parkinson's UK, told MailOnline: 'This exciting development of focused ultrasound techniques offers hope of a promising tool for treating the symptom of tremor in people with Parkinson's.  

'There is an urgent need to improve the range of therapeutic options available to help people manage this debilitating symptom.

' We hope this research can result in a therapy that can become available to the one in 37 of us who will be diagnosed in their lifetime.'