Focused Ultrasound Therapy
Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to improve the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with involuntary muscle contractions leading to repetitive twisting or unusual postures from dystonia. There are many different forms of dystonia, including focal dystonia, segmental dystonia, multifocal dystonia, hemidystonia, and generalized dystonia. Additionally, specific types like cervical dystonia, blepharospasm, oromandibular dystonia, laryngeal dystonia, and writer’s cramp are also recognized. This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the brain without damaging surrounding normal tissue.
How it Works
Where the beams converge, focused ultrasound produces precise ablation (thermal destruction of tissue) enabling dystonia to be treated without surgery. While there are several potential treatment targets, the ventrooralis (Vo nucleus of the thalamus) has been the target of initial studies treating musician’s or writer’s dystonia. More recently, targeting of the internal portion of the globus pallidus has been pursued.
Advantages
The primary options for treatment of dystonia include medications and invasive surgery. However, medications work temporarily, whereas focused ultrasound will offer a more durable treatment that may be permanent.
For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide a noninvasive alternative to surgery with less risk of complications – such as surgical wound healing or infection – at a lower cost. If needed, focused ultrasound can also be repeated.
Clinical Trials
A clinical trial in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is using low intensity focused ultrasound to impact patients with multiple types of disorders, including many types of tremors, dystonia, epilepsy, and addictive substance abuse conditions.
A clinical trial for hand dystonia (also known as musicians or writer’s cramp) is recruiting patients at the University of Maryland.
A multi-center clinical trial for limb dystonia has begun recruiting patients in Italy.
A clinical trial in Taiwan is treating patients with refractory essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease tremor or dystonia using focused ultrasound.
A clinical trial for pediatric patients with cerebral palsy with dyskinetic dystonia is also recruiting patients.
A clinical trial in Japan has begun treating patients with cervical dystonia has been completed.
A clinical trial in Toronto is treating patients with dystonia.
The Foundation updates these pages regularly, but with the increasing number of clinical trials, we want to be sure that our audience has the latest information available. Therefore, we also added the website search information for the above trials. If you click here, it will take you to the latest information available from https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/.
Find a Treatment Site
Search for a treatment center or clinical trial near you.
Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement
Focused ultrasound treatment for dystonia is not yet approved by regulatory bodies or covered by medical insurance companies.
Notable Papers
Sastre-Bataller I, Conde-Sardón R, Campins-Romeu M, Morata-Martínez C, Baviera-Muñoz R, Pérez-García J, Losada-López M, Ibáñez-Juliá MJ, León-Guijarro JL, Lozano AM, Gutiérrez-Martín A, Martínez-Torres I. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy in essential tremor subtypes: a phenotype-based insight into gait and balance. Brain Commun. 2026 Mar 11;8(2):fcag076. doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcag076. eCollection 2026. PMID: 41907317
Abe K, Hori H, Hori T, Taira T. Focused ultrasound therapy for neurological disease. J Med Ultrason (2001). 2026 Jan 28. doi: 10.1007/s10396-025-01602-8. PMID: 41606354
Guinal SM, Jamora RDG, Khu KJO, Aguilar JA. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound in dystonia: a scoping review. Neurol Sci. 2025 Mar;46(3):1121-1130. doi: 10.1007/s10072-024-07882-1. Epub 2024 Nov 20. PMID: 39562491
Horisawa S, Saito R, Qian B, Hori H, Kim K, Murakami M, Kakegawa T, Abe K, Fukui A, Kohara K, Iijima M, Kawamata T, Taira T. Focused Ultrasound Pallidothalamic Tractotomy in Cervical Dystonia: A Pilot Study. Mov Disord. 2024 Nov 2. doi: 10.1002/mds.30030. PMID: 39487633
Guinal SM, Jamora RDG, Khu KJO, Aguilar JA. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound in dystonia: a scoping review. Neurol Sci. 2024 Nov 20. doi: 10.1007/s10072-024-07882-1. PMID: 39562491
Singh A, Reynolds JNJ. Therapeutic ultrasound: an innovative approach for targeting neurological disorders affecting the basal ganglia. Front Neuroanat. 2024 Oct 2;18:1469250. doi: 10.3389/fnana.2024.1469250. eCollection 2024. PMID: 39417047
Cuony J, Lorton O, Tomkova Chaoui E, Comet C, Schaller K, Salomir R, Momjian S, Fleury V. Hand Dystonia after Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy in Essential Tremor. Stereotact Funct Neurosurg. 2024 Jun 4:1-6. doi: 10.1159/000538931. PMID: 38834047
Mohamed AA, Faragalla S, Khan A, Flynn G, Rainone G, Johansen PM, Lucke-Wold B. Neurosurgical and pharmacological management of dystonia. World J Psychiatry. 2024 May 19;14(5):624-634. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i5.624. eCollection 2024 May 19. PMID: 38808085
Levi V, Stanziano M, Pinto C, Zibordi F, Fedeli D, Caldiera V, Cilia R, Golfrè Andreasi N, Braccia A, Carozzi C, Ciceri E, Grisoli M, Gemma M, Nazzi V, DiMeco F, Eleopra R, Zorzi G. Bilateral Simultaneous Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Pallidotomy for Life-Threatening Status Dystonicus. Mov Disord. 2024 Apr 19. doi: 10.1002/mds.29811. PMID: 38641910
Click here for additional references on PubMed.