Parkinson's patients successfully treated without surgery
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Posted on July 5, 2021

Spanish researchers confirm the efficacy of a cutting-edge treatment that allows a minimally invasive approach to safely and effectively treat the motor manifestations of Parkinson's disease. HIFU technology is innovative since it does not require surgical intervention in classical terms, eliminating the complications inherent to intracranial surgery and the placement of brain implants.
This non-invasive technique, hemisphere-focused ultrasound subthalamotomy, improves the main motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. These are data from a clinical trial carried out by a team from the Centro Integral de Neurosciencias AC HM CINAC in Madrid (Spain) that provides new scientific evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of this technique for treating the cardinal signs of Parkinson's disease.
In the trial, directed by Dr. José Obeso, and whose results are published in "The New England Journal of Medicine", a total of 27 out of 40 participants were treated with this technique, while the remaining 13 patients underwent a 'placebo' procedure in which the treatment was simulated.
It showed that patients treated with ultrasound subthalamotomy significantly improved on the fundamental signs of the disease, such as tremor, stiffness, and bradykinesia (slow movement).
Subsequently, all the subjects were evaluated by investigators who did not know whether the patient had received the treatment or not. The benefit-risk balance of HIFU subthalamotomy is favorable to the use of this therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease whose motor manifestations are not adequately controlled with pharmacological treatment.