Almost five years. The FDA approved the Exablate Neuro device for treating essential tremor with Focused Ultrasound at the end of 2016.

More than 3,500 Essential Tremor patients have been treated with Insightec’s Focused Ultrasound. For more information on several patients’ journey to tremor treatment, click on the link below.

The first line of treatment for Essential Tremor is medications. If you have a confirmed diagnosis of essential tremor and prescribed medications (such as propranolol or primidone) have not provided satisfactory tremor improvement, you may be a candidate for Focused Ultrasound. For more information on medications, click on the link below.

The Focused Ultrasound treatment is FDA approved for unilateral treatment – treating one side, usually the dominant hand.

You should have a detailed conversation with your physician regarding risks and benefits of treatment. Insightec-sponsored clinical studies have shown that the most common side effects are imbalance/gait disturbance, numbness/tingling and headache/head pain. Additional infrequent events include dizziness, taste disturbance, slurred speech, fatigue and vomiting. For more on safety information, click the link below.

There is a small risk that you could develop temporary or permanent muscle weakness, unsteadiness when walking, sensory loss, or numbness or tingling in your fingers or elsewhere in your body. For more on safety information, click the link below.

Your feedback is necessary as you will be asked to do tasks such as drawing spirals. This is so the physician can evaluate the improvement of your tremor and identify any potential side effects that you may be experiencing during the treatment.

The average treatment time is 2.5 hours. The treatment is usually performed on an outpatient basis; however the treating physician will decide when you can return home.

There is the possibility that your hand tremor may return months or even years after the Focused Ultrasound treatment, or that the tremor may not improve at all. And while the treatment may improve your tremor, it’s important to understand that it does not treat the underlying disease nor prevent its progression.

That depends on the type of work that you do and how you feel. Please consult with your physician.