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Parkinson's Disease

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Development Stage

Early Stage

Focused ultrasound research is in the laboratory phase and is not yet available for patients.

Clinical Trials

Focused ultrasound for this condition is being researched in clinical trials.

International Approval

Focused ultrasound is approved to treat this condition outside the US. Patients can seek commercial treatment at participating international sites.

FDA Approved

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved focus ultrasound for this condition. Patients can seek commercial treatment at participating sites.

Early Stage

Clinical Trials

International

FDA Approved

Focused ultrasound is cleared to treat both the symptoms of tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease and dyskinesia within and outside the US. Patients can seek commercial treatment at participating sites. There are also clinical trials that may be of interest to patients.

Find a Treatment Site or Clinical Trial

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 symptoms secondary to Parkinson’s disease. This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasonic energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the brain without damaging surrounding normal tissue.

Please note that for work being done on dementia, including that which is associated with Parkinson’s disease, please see the Disease and Conditions listing for Dementia.

How it Works
Where the beams converge, focused ultrasound produces a variety of therapeutic effects enabling Parkinson’s disease to be treated without surgery. For movement disorders, the mechanism of action is ablation (thermal disruption of the tissue) that can be aimed at several different treatment targets. For the preclinical work that one day may treat the underlying causes for Parkinson’s, the mechanisms can be temporarily disrupting the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which will allow desired therapeutics the ability to enter the brain. Opening the BBB also can enable undesired materials to more easily depart from the brain.

Benefits

Currently, there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Treatment options include drug therapies and in select patients, surgeries such as deep brain stimulation or radiofrequency ablation. Focused ultrasound has the ability to noninvasively treat some Parkinson’s disease patients through thermal ablation of the brain circuits that cause motor symptoms. Focused ultrasound can also open the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a naturally occurring barrier of tightly aligned cells along the blood vessels, allowing the diffusion of medications and antibodies into the brain that can potentially prevent progression and/or restore function.

Advantages:

  • Noninvasive – no incisions, no risk of infection or bleeding, less pain, and rapid recovery
  • Image-guided – precision targeting with minimal damage to surrounding tissue
  • Safe, temporary and repetitive opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) – enhancing the delivery of therapeutics and immune cells directly to the brain target site

Relief of Motor Symptoms
The FDA has approved the use of focused ultrasound for treatment of tremor-dominated Parkinson’s disease and Parkinson’s dyskinesia, which is a broad definition that includes a wide variety of motor complications, including motor fluctuations, involuntary extremity movement, rigidity, slow initiation of movement and other similar diseases. The latest approval is for the treatment of the pallidothalamic tract (PTT), and this also includes the possibility of a staged (6 month interval) bilateral treatment.  Given the multiple treatment targets in the brain and the wide variety of the symptoms that are present with the movement disorders associated with Parkinson’s disease, the manufacturer of the device (Insightec) suggests that medically diagnosed patients which are not controlled medically can either take this short quiz or contact Insightec (1-800-704-6797) for recommendations regarding next steps.  

  • Parkinsonian tremor – target in the thalamus (thalamotomy)
  • Parkinsonian dyskinesia – target in the globus pallidus (pallidotomy) or subthalamic nucleus
  • Parkinsonian tremor, akinesia or dyskinesia – target in the pallidothalamic tract

Additional Advantages

  • Focused ultrasound is non-invasive – no incisions, holes in the skull, electrodes in the brain – and therefore has reduced risk for infection and blood clots.
  • Precise targeting minimizes damage to non-targeted healthy brain.
  • Compared to deep brain stimulation, focused ultrasound is a single procedure, and does not require subsequent procedures/visits to replace batteries, repair broken wires, or adjust simulator settings. It also does not involve the collateral damage to healthy tissue or the risk of infections associated with implanting a foreign body inside the brain.

Treating Underlying Pathology
Preclinical studies suggest focused ultrasound’s potential to restore function in Parkinson’s models. Focused ultrasound can temporarily open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to improve the delivery of:

  • Genes, growth factors, stem cells, other neuroprotective and/or neurorestorative drugs
  • Anti-alpha synuclein antibodies

In October 2018, the Foundation had a multi-disciplinary workshop that aimed at using BBB opening in conjunction with potentially curative agents, to decide what research approaches have the most potential. Read the workshop summary >

Regulatory Authorizations

The Exablate system manufactured by Insightec is approved in Europe and in the US for treating tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. In November 2021, it also earned approval in the US for treating additional movement disorders associated with Parkinson’s disease, including mobility, rigidity and dyskinesia. We recommend that patients talk with the treatment site for questions about insurance coverage under Medicare, as some treatment sites are now being reimbursed by Medicare.

FDA Approved 

The US FDA has recently cleared the use of focused ultrasound targeting the pallidothalamic tract (PTT) for treatment of movement disorder symptoms. This approval also includes a staged bilateral treatment, where the second side can be treated 6 months after the treatment of the first side. This adds to the prior approval of the unilateral ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM) target for tremor and the unilateral globus pallidus (GPi) target for mobility, rigidity and dyskinesia symptoms.  

Clinical Trials

There are several recent trials that assess the feasibility, safety, and preliminary efficacy of focused ultrasound to treat different symptoms of Parkinson’s. 

A clinical trial in California is looking to see if transcranial ultrasound stimulation improves neurologic and cognitive outcomes in patients treated with neurodegenerative diseases.

A clinical trial is organizing in West Virginia that will use low intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation to treat patients with movement disorders from Parkinson’s disease.  

A clinical trial in Los Angeles is using transcranial ultrasound neuromodulation to treat patients with essential tremor. 

Two registries for tremor and pallidotomy are looking at using MRI guided focused ultrasound to treat patients with movement disorders from Parkinson’s disease. 

A clinical trial in Denmark is trying to identify sustained biomarkers of adequate dopamine response after FUS treatments.  

A clinical trial in Taiwan is treating patients with refractory essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease tremor or dystonia using focused ultrasound.  

A clinical trial in Los Angeles is using Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound Pulsation (LIFUP) to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease movement disorders has been completed.   

A clinical trial is recruiting patients in China and will treat with either the VIM or PTT target for movement disorders from Parkinson’s disease.  

A clinical trial is recruiting patients in Shanghai, China and is using MRI guided focused ultrasound to treat patients with movement disorders.  

A clinical trial is recruiting patients in Beijing, China to treat movement disorders from Parkinson’s disease with focused ultrasound.  

A clinical trial in China is looking at using focused ultrasound to treat patient who have a low skull density ratio (SDR) value. 

Early-stage Parkinson’s Disease
There is a clinical trial in Spain for patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease, and the treatment will be randomized and include either unilateral subthalamotomy or best medical treatment.  

Parkinson’s disease patients with glucocerebrosidase deficiency
This trial is recruiting patients for treatment with recombinant glucocerebrosidase to offset this deficiency. This study is only open to those who are Canadian Citizens.  

Peripheral electrical stimulation with focused ultrasound on motor symptoms 
This clinical trial in Canada is using non-thermal mechanisms targeting superficial and deep targets to help treat patients with movement disorders symptoms from Parkinson’s disease. 

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/. 

See a list of treatment sites >
See here for a list of clinical trials sites >
See here for a list of laboratory research sites >

Preclinical Laboratory Studies

  • *Focused ultrasound and microbubbles (FUS-MB) targeting α-synuclein (α-syn) pathology-related dementia (Aarhus Universitetshospital)
  • *FUS BBB opening to halt nigrostriatal degeneration (Centro Integral de Neurociencias HM Cinac)
  • *FUS-meditated delivery of the neurorestorative gene therapy, rAAV9.SIRT3-myc as a disease-modifying strategy in Parkinson’s disease (University of Toronto)
  • *Sonogenetics-enabled spatial and temporal expression of transcription factors for direct programming of human stem cells (Pennsylvania State University)

*The Focused Ultrasound Foundation is fully or partially funding these research projects.

Manufacturers

  • BrainSonix Corp. | Sherman Oaks, CA | www.brainsonix.com
  • Delsona Therapeutics, Inc. | New York, NY
  • INSIGHTEC LTD | Tirat Carmel, Israel | www.insightec.com
  • MR Instruments, Inc. | Brooklyn Park, MN | www.mrinstruments.com
  • NaviFUS | New Taipei City, Taiwan | www.navi-fus.com
  • Sonic Concepts, Inc. | Bothell, WA | www.sonicconcepts.com

Additional Resources

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
Exablate Neuro by Insightec LTD

Media & Videos

In a first, Ganga Ram hospital doctors treat Parkinson’s tremors without surgery
India Today – May 15, 2025

Clinical Perspectives Webinar on Focused Ultrasound for Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor
PMD Alliance YouTube channel – May 7, 2025

For the first time, Kentucky doctors perform new surgery for tremors, Parkinson’s symptoms
Courier Journal – February 20, 2025

Treating with Sound PMD Alliance Webinar with Tim Meakem and Bobby Krause
PMD Alliance YouTube channel – January 30, 2025

Parkinson’s disease: ‘It’s as though I never had it’, patient says, as ‘miracle’ treatment ends tremors
Sky News – June 27, 2024

Dr. Levine’s new technique: MRI-guided ultrasound aids Parkinson’s patients
ABC 7 News – October 10, 2024

Suggested Reading

Focused Ultrasound: Transforming treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases August 2022

Parkinson’s Disease: Latest Treatments and Research. September 2020. 

Focused Ultrasound for Parkinson’s Disease. June 2025.

Notable Papers

Eraifej J, Toth J, Hanemaaijer J, He S, Cheng X, Divanbeighi Zand AP, Stewart ME, FitzGerald JJ, Butler CR, Denison T, Green AL, Cleveland RO. Suppression of pathological oscillations with transcranial focused ultrasound in Parkinson’s disease. Nat Commun. 2026 Mar 25. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-70714-7. PMID: 41876482 

Rivera F, Quintanal Cordero N, Barbosa N, Etcheverry JL, Pampin S, Piedimonte F. Dual-target magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound of the subthalamic and ventral intermediate nuclei for Parkinson’s disease: illustrative case. J Neurosurg Case Lessons. 2026 Mar 30;11(13):CASE2643. doi: 10.3171/CASE2643. PMID: 41911604 

Kim YJ, Chen J, Rolston J, Cosgrove G. 1067 Bilateral Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy: Outcomes in a Large, Prospective Cohort. Neurosurgery. 2026 Apr 1;72(Supplement_1):195. doi: 10.1227/neu.0000000000003964_1067. PMID: 41837689 

Paio F, Bulgarelli G, Tagliamonte M, Bovi T, Longhi M, Nicolato A, Sala F, Petralia B, Bonetti B, Tinazzi M, Ricciardi GK, Tamburin S. How do we FUS? Peri-procedural management of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound: An EMEA regional survey. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2026 Mar 12;146:108284. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2026.108284. PMID: 41844501 

 Bruno F, Saltarelli G, Di Cerbo G, Innocenzi A, Di Terlizzi S, Sucapane P, Cerone D, Catalucci A, Palumbo P, Arrigoni F, Barile A, Di Cesare E, Pistoia F, Splendiani A. Temporal muscle thickness on brain MRI as a surrogate marker of sarcopenia and treatment response in tremor patients undergoing MRgFUS thalamotomy. Neuroradiol J. 2026 Apr;39(2):247-253. doi: 10.1177/19714009251362817. Epub 2025 Jul 27. PMID: 40717041 

Manorenj S, Kumar SS. Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) for Movement Disorders: A Practical Guide for Neurologists. Neurol India. 2026 Mar 1;74(2):184-193. doi: 10.4103/neurol-india.Neurol-India-D-25-00354. Epub 2026 Mar 11. PMID: 41817057 

McDannold N, Chua MMJ, Blitz S, White PJ, Fletcher SM, Oliveira TR, Rolston JD, Cosgrove GR. Predicting tremor control and side effects during focused ultrasound thalamotomy using MR temperature imaging. J Neurosurg. 2026 Mar 13:1-14. doi: 10.3171/2025.10.JNS251763. PMID: 41825071 

Hamani C, Elias WJ, Baltuch GH, Gross RE, Rosenow JM, Schwalb JM, Air EL, Machado AG, Sweet J, Willie JT, Rolston JD, Englot DJ, Lipsman N, Zemmar A, Neimat JS, Cosgrove GR, Asaad WF, Ali R, Pilitsis JG, Danish SF. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound for the management of tremor: update on the position statement of the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. J Neurosurg. 2026 Mar 27:1-9. doi: 10.3171/2025.11.JNS251828. PMID: 41894813 

Tisch S. Focussed ultrasound thalamotomy and functional MRI as windows to neural networks underlying essential tremor. Neurotherapeutics. 2026 Mar 27:e00893. doi: 10.1016/j.neurot.2026.e00893. PMID: 41904108 

Kofoed RH, Hvingelby VS, Pineda-Pardo JA, Blesa J, Paschen S, Tandon A, Joutsa J, Glud AN. Focused Ultrasound for the Treatment of Circuit and Molecular Pathology in Parkinson’s Disease. Mov Disord. 2026 Feb 3. doi: 10.1002/mds.70156. PMID: 41631726 

Ren J, Zhang W, Dahmani L, Gordon EM, Li S, Zhou Y, Long Y, Huang J, Zhu Y, Guo N, Jiang C, Zhang F, Bai Y, Wei W, Wu Y, Bush A, Vissani M, Wei L, Oehrn CR, Morrison MA, Zhu Y, Zhang C, Hu Q, Yin Y, Cui W, Fu X, Zhang P, Wang W, Ji GJ, He J, Wang K, Fan D, Wang Z, Kimberley T, Little S, Starr PA, Richardson RM, Li L, Wang M, Wang D, Dosenbach NUF, Liu H. Parkinson’s disease as a somato-cognitive action network disorder. Nature. 2026 Feb 4. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-10059-1. PMID: 41639440 

Abbas A, Sabet H, Abouelmagd ME, Hefnawy MT, Bakr S, Lashin B, Zanaty MA, El-Moslemani M, Helal MM, Aldehri M, Alnaami I, Raslan AM. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound subthalamotomy for Parkinson’s disease: a meta-analysis of effectiveness and safety. Neurosurg Rev. 2026 Feb 7;49(1):201. doi: 10.1007/s10143-025-04045-4. PMID: 41653211 

Yang L, Xu K, Zhang D, Stark A, Yue Y, Kravitz A, Yang Y, Chen H. Differential effects of focused ultrasound neuromodulation in Parkinson’s disease mice versus healthy mice. J Neural Eng. 2026 Feb 25;23(1):016031. doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/ae4383. PMID: 41662770 

Monje MHG, Karl JA, Cooper CS, Yomtoob J, Deliz J, Morse LA, Shetty N, Verhagen Metman L. Advanced Therapeutics in Parkinson’s Disease: What’s New? Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2026 Feb 18;26(1):11. doi: 10.1007/s11910-026-01483-5. PMID: 41706242 

Yang SM, Yeoh SH, Lin MT, Hsiao MY, Wu CH, Lin SJ, Chen WS. Focused ultrasound enhances targeted curcumin delivery and alleviates behavioral and neuropathological deficits in a Parkinson’s disease mouse model. Front Aging Neurosci. 2026 Feb 9;18:1740256. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2026.1740256. eCollection 2026. PMID: 41737005 

Qin Z, Wang Z, Gao C, Yong X, Hua Y, Zhou Y, Xie J. Ultrasound-mediated blood-brain barrier opening for targeted neurological drug delivery. Biomater Adv. 2026 Feb 3;183:214754. doi: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2026.214754. PMID: 41666521 

Mei CS, Zong S, Madore B, Cosgrove GR, McDannold NJ. Focus correction in MR thermography for increased targeting precision during focused ultrasound procedures. Magn Reson Med. 2026 Feb;95(2):951-961. doi: 10.1002/mrm.70089. Epub 2025 Sep 24. PMID: 40991818 

Chavira-Hernandez G, Fasano A. Current Approach to Surgical Management of Tremor Disorders. Semin Neurol. 2026 Feb 6. doi: 10.1055/a-2789-0271. PMID: 41539330 

Vuong MQ, Sreenivasan V, Lee S, Quinn B, Keung MS, Grundy M, Ayala Castañeda J, Baek H, McKeown MJ. Low-intensity transcranial ultrasound effects on the ventral intermediate nucleus and zona incerta in Parkinson’s disease tremor. Brain Stimul. 2026;19(1):103025. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2026.103025. Epub 2026 Jan 8. PMID: 41519465 

Chen JC, Lu MK, Tsai CH. Clarifying Order and Carry-Over Considerations in Dual-Target MRgFUS for Parkinson’s Disease. Eur J Neurol. 2026 Jan;33(1):e70467. doi: 10.1111/ene.70467. PMID: 41508702 

Bano I, Jeevanandam J, Tsenov G. Advances in therapeutic hybrid neuromodulation for Parkinson’s disease. 3 Biotech. 2026 Jan;16(1):58. doi: 10.1007/s13205-025-04681-z. Epub 2026 Jan 5. PMID: 41502481 

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 

Jameel A, Smith J, Akgun S, Bain P, Nandi D, Jones B, Quest R, Gedroyc W, Yousif N. Creation and clinical utility of a 3D atlas-based model for visualising brain nuclei targeted by MR-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for tremor. Biomed Phys Eng Express. 2026 Jan 21;12(1). doi: 10.1088/2057-1976/ae356f. PMID: 41505797 

Xiong Y, Yang M, Arkin M, Li Y, Duan C, Bian X, Lu H, Zhang L, Wang S, Ren X, Li X, Zhang M, Zhou X, Pan L, Lou X. Deep learning-powered temperature prediction for optimizing transcranial MR-guided focused ultrasound treatment. J Neurosurg. 2026 Jan 1;144(1):84-93. doi: 10.3171/2025.5.JNS25291. PMID: 40939202 

Bin Khunayfir A, Wimalasena LN, Isbaine F, Factor SA, AuYong N, Tripathi R. Jerky Dystonic Unsteady Limb following High Frequency Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy. Mov Disord Clin Pract. 2026 Jan;13(1):265-268. doi: 10.1002/mdc3.70230. Epub 2025 Jul 15. PMID: 40662243 

Fan SP, Okuzumi A, Chen PS, Tai YC, Kuo YC, Tai CH, Li CH, Chiang HL, Hatano T, Lin CH. Parkinson’s disease in transition: Genetics, biomarkers, and emerging therapeutics. J Formos Med Assoc. 2025 Dec 5:S0929-6646(25)00649-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2025.12.005. PMID: 41353001 

Lee TL, Lu MK. Deep brain stimulation and magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound in Parkinsonism and related disorders: State-of-the-Art and future prospects. J Formos Med Assoc. 2025 Dec 10:S0929-6646(25)00658-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2025.12.014. PMID: 41381327 

Cheng B, Luo ZH, Xiao X, Che CF, Zhu T, Zhang SS. Effectiveness and safety of magnetic resonance-guided unilateral focused ultrasound subthalamotomy for Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. Front Neurosci. 2025 Dec 1;19:1693035. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1693035. eCollection 2025. PMID: 41404031 

Swinnen BEKS, Buijink AWG, Espay AJ, de Bie RMA. Tremor in Parkinson’s Disease. Semin Neurol. 2025 Dec 19. doi: 10.1055/a-2768-3003. PMID: 41418813 

Dang NH, Kern DS, Honce JM, Ojemann SG, Tanabe JL. Skull Lesions after MR-Guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound: A Case Series. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2025 Dec 11. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A8957. PMID: 40780877 

Sakharova G, Krokhmal A, Galimova R, Khatmullina A, Nabiullina D, Buzaev I, Avzaletdinova D, Chupova D, Khokhlova V. The use of alendronate to enhance transcranial transmission of focused ultrasound for successful ablations in brain. Ultrasonics. 2026 Jan;157:107796. doi: 10.1016/j.ultras.2025.107796. Epub 2025 Aug 19. PMID: 40848325 

Sit V, Kumar R, Scantlebury N, Boshmaf SZ, Sivadas S, Rohringer CR, Triantafilou A, Gopinath G, Sewell IJ, Davidson B, Lam B, Hamani C, Schwartz ML, Abrahao A, Lipsman N, Rabin JS. Non-motor outcomes following focused ultrasound thalamotomy for tremor. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2026 Jan;142:108106. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2025.108106. Epub 2025 Oct 28. PMID: 41202510 

Henn MC, Useinovic N, Cahill J, Shi H, Shafie B, Smith H, Joyce M, Valuev T, Lopez-Ramos CG, Raslan AM, Cleary DR. Preoperative treatment with bisphosphonates does not change the thermal response of focused ultrasound thalamotomy. Stereotact Funct Neurosurg. 2025 Dec 5:1-19. doi: 10.1159/000549833. PMID: 41348673 

Garate Andikoetxea B, Serna Requejo G, Gonzalez-Quarante LH, Domínguez Echávarri PD, Rodriguez-Oroz MC, Sanchez-Catasus CA. T1/T2-weighted Ratio to Improve MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound-induced Chronic Lesion Contrast in Patients with Tremor Syndrome. Radiology. 2025 Dec;317(3):e250669. doi: 10.1148/radiol.250669. PMID: 41400472 

Montero-Pardo C, Rocon E, Dosen S, Dideriksen JL, Gutierrez A, Perez-Sanchez JR, Luque-Buzo E, Louis ED, Grandas F, Oliveira-Barroso F. Emerging Noninvasive Approaches for the Suppression of Pathological Tremor. IEEE Rev Biomed Eng. 2025 Dec 16;PP. doi: 10.1109/RBME.2025.3639754. PMID: 41406268 

Peters J, Maamary J, Barnett Y, Kuhn AA, Jonker B, Tisch S. Surgical Treatment of Tremor Syndromes: A Guide to the Clinician. Mov Disord Clin Pract. 2025 Dec 22. doi: 10.1002/mdc3.70441. PMID: 41424260 

Click here for additional references on PubMed.

Animated treatment video courtesy of Insightec