Hospital launches new treatment to reduce tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease
By Yasmeen Ludy
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LA MESA, California (KGTV) — After eight years of battling tremors that made his job nearly impossible, retired Senior Investigator Tony Johnson has found hope through a new procedure at Sharp Grossmont Hospital.
Johnson’s tremors forced him to retire after 45 years in law enforcement. “Little day-to-day things around the house were difficult, uh, texting, typing, uh, things like that were just a lot harder to do,” Johnson said. “It’s just embarrassing to have your hand out and have it shake. Everybody notices it, not everybody says anything.”
In February, Johnson underwent a new procedure that uses MRI imaging and ultrasound beams to target and destroy small areas of cells in the brain responsible for causing Parkinson’s symptoms.
The 90 minute treatment changed his life.
“We use the power of a thousand ultrasound arrays, each of which we focus, and using the vision from the MRI to burn a 2 millimeter hole in the brain,” said Dr. Vamsi Chavakula, the director of Functional Neurosurgery at Sharp Grossmont Hospital.
According to Chavakula, the procedure is done without anesthesia. “They tell me what they’re feeling. They show me how their tremor is doing. We actually do all the same things that they have trouble doing in real life inside the MRI tunnel,” he said.
Before the procedure, Johnson drew a spiral to assess his motor skills. “When you get over to the smaller spiral, he has a little more trouble staying within the lines,” Chavakula said. After the treatment, Johnson’s signature showed improvement.
Since launching the treatment, the hospital has helped 75 patients, all of whom have seen improvements in their tremors—including Tony Johnson.
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