Focused Ultrasound for Tremor Now Available at UHealth

By: Chad Hanson | May 26, 2026 | 7 min. read |

A new MRI-guided focused ultrasound procedure at UHealth offers patients with essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease a noninvasive alternative to traditional brain surgery.

Physician with back to camera speaks with a seated patient during a consultation in a hospital imaging suite; the patient is visible over the physician’s shoulder with hands resting on a table, while a focused ultrasound system and display monitors are visible in the background.

UHealth’s neurological surgery program is offering an incisionless treatment option for people living with medication‑refractory essential tremor and certain forms of Parkinson’s disease. Focused ultrasound uses precisely targeted sound waves to treat tremor without open surgery, implanted hardware or an overnight hospital stay.

The procedure is performed inside an MRI scanner, allowing physicians to target specific areas of the brain with a high degree of accuracy. The technology concentrates more than 1,000 ultrasound beams on a single point, raising the temperature just enough to disrupt the abnormal circuitry responsible for tremor. For many patients, the result can be rapid symptom relief and a quicker return home.

“This is completely done in an MRI, so there’s no operating room,” said Jonathan Jagid, M.D., a Miller School professor of clinical neurological surgery. “Typically, patients would go home the same day. With surgery, patients usually have to spend at least a night in the hospital.”

UHealth neurosurgeon Dr. Jonathan Jagid, smiling in white clinic coat — Dr. Jonathan Jagid

What Current Research Shows About Focused Ultrasound

A substantial body of medical research supports focused ultrasound as an effective and durable option for carefully selected patients with medication‑refractory tremor. Long-term data from a pivotal multicenter clinical trial published in the Journal of Neurosurgery show that patients treated with MRI‑guided focused ultrasound for essential tremor maintained an average 73 percent reduction in tremor severity at five years, with no new or delayed adverse events reported during follow-up. Quality-of-life measures in these studies also remained significantly improved years after treatment.

Recent prospective and continued‑access studies have reinforced those findings, demonstrating sustained improvements in tremor scores, functional ability and patient‑reported quality of life. Most side effects were characterized as mild to moderate and often resolved over time.

A Noninvasive Option for Select Patients

Focused ultrasound has received FDA approval for specific indications, including benign essential tremor and tremor‑predominant Parkinson’s disease. While Parkinson’s disease includes a range of symptoms, some patients are primarily affected by disabling tremor, making them potential candidates for this approach.

Unlike traditional neurosurgical procedures, focused ultrasound does not require scalp incisions or implanted devices. Patients remain awake during the procedure, which allows clinicians to observe tremor changes in real time, as treatment is delivered. Physicians can first apply sublethal doses of energy to confirm that they are targeting the correct area before creating the permanent therapeutic lesion.

“You can actually see what you’re going to get before you create the lesion,” Dr. Jagid explained.

That built-in feedback adds an important layer of safety and precision.

Focused Ultrasound Compared with Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has long been considered the gold standard surgical therapy for tremor disorders and remains a critical option at UHealth. Dr. Jagid says the two approaches can provide similar tremor relief, but each has distinct trade‑offs.

“The results for focused ultrasound as it relates to tremor are pretty much equivalent to what you can get with a deep brain stimulator device,” he said.

Neurosurgeons in a hospital operating room perform deep brain stimulation surgery using surgical instruments and imaging guidance visible on monitors. — Focused ultrasound and deep brain stimulation can provide similar relief for patients with tremor.

The key difference lies in reversibility and adjustability. DBS involves implanted electrodes connected to a programmable device, allowing physicians to fine-tune stimulation as symptoms evolve. Focused ultrasound, by contrast, creates a permanent lesion, but may appeal to patients who are unwilling or unable to undergo open surgery or live with implanted hardware.

“It offers a therapy for the subset of patients who don’t want to be in an operating room, who want nothing to do with implanted hardware that’s permanent,” Dr. Jagid added.

Expanding Treatment Choices at UHealth

Focused ultrasound is an important addition to UHealth’s functional neurosurgery program. The procedure allows physicians to tailor care to patient preferences, health status and disease characteristics.

The goal is to provide eligible patients with another pathway to meaningful tremor control, while continuing to offer established surgical options, when appropriate.