The focused ultrasound research team at Yonsei University’s Brain Research Institute, which is led by Dr. Jin Woo Chang, recently published their encouraging 1-year follow-up results from a phase I clinical trial of patients with medication-refractory Parkinson’s dyskinesia in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

This is the first clinical trial in which a new target, the internal globus pallidus nucleus, was used. Prior studies treated the nerve fibers in the pallidothalamic tract whereas this study treated the nucleus itself. The 10 patients who were enrolled showed good treatment improvements (32.2% initially) that were further improved at 6 months (39.1%) and 12 months (42.7%) with no sustained side effects.

“I hope that these results help facilitate a larger, multicenter trial for patients with Parkinson’s dyskinesia,” said Dr. Chang. “Due to the limitations of deep brain stimulation and radiofrequency ablation, focused ultrasound may fill the unmet need for these patients.”

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