Delray Medical Center Unveils New High-Tech Machine for Treating Movement Disorders
Delray Medical Center recently cut the ribbon on its newest high-tech machine, designed to target specific brain areas to treat movement disorders such as essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. The machine, called the Exablate Prime, uses focused ultrasound guided by MRI to stop the involuntary trembling of the hands and head experienced by people with neurological disorders in just one treatment.
Neurosurgeons at Delray Medical Center have been using the earlier version of the machine to treat patients with uncontrollable tremors or stiffness, with great success. According to Dr. Lloyd Zucker, chief of neurosurgery at Delray Medical Center, the new machine is able to get even better results, thanks to improvements in imaging and data management. The machine can treat more patients in a day than its predecessor, with minimal complications, and patients can go home the same day as treatment.
The Exablate Prime uses 1024 beams of ultrasound to pass through the skull and focus on a point in the brain, allowing for greater accuracy and precision. The treatment process is designed to be safe and effective, with patients providing feedback during the low-energy ultrasound stage to help adjust the treatment before high-energy ultrasound is applied to destroy the lesion causing the tremor.
Dr. Zucker has a wait list of about a year for patients with essential tremor or tremor-dominant Parkinson’s to be treated with focused ultrasound, and the new machine is expected to increase capacity, allowing more patients to be treated daily.
The hospital has also been using the technology to treat Alzheimer’s patients, as part of a study in collaboration with Florida Atlantic University’s Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention. According to Dr. Arif Dalvi, physician chief of the movement disorder program at Delray Medical Center, the ultrasound can help clear amyloid plaque from the brain, and the machine is expected to be a key component in treating the disease.
Dr. Augusto Grinspan, chief medical officer for Insightec, the manufacturer of the Exablate Prime, noted that the need for the machines is increasing, as 500,000 people have tried medication and found it ineffective, and are desperate to find a solution. With the new machine, Delray Medical Center is expected to be able to touch many more lives, according to CEO Heather Havericak.