Treating movement symptoms of essential tremor

For individuals with essential tremor, deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been shown to shown to reduce tremor in the upper extremity.1 If medications are not working adequately and the tremor constitutes a significant functional disability, DBS may be an option for essential tremor patients.

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Benefits of Medtronic DBS

  • Improves ability to do everyday activities with less tremor and less disability1
  • Offers the first safe† access to MRI anywhere on the body for diagnosing health conditions in patients with deep brain stimulation
  • Allows therapy to be turned off or reversed, preserving options for future therapies and treatments

Risks

Physicians should be aware that the risks associated with initial surgery may increase with clinical conditions such as:

  • Stroke or neurological disorders other than idiopathic Parkinson’s disease
  • Cardiovascular disease 
  • Renal or hepatic failure
  • Diabetes mellitus

To help ensure maximum benefits from the neurostimulation system, long-term, post-surgical management of patients is recommended.

Is your essential tremor patient a candidate for DBS therapy?

Deep brain stimulation should be considered when a patient with essential tremor has disabling symptoms and medications are ineffective or have intolerable side effects.

Deep brain stimulation may be considered for patients who meet the following criteria:

  • They have a disabling tremor of an upper extremity due to essential tremor or Parkinsonian tremor
  • The tremor causes a significant functional disability
  • The tremor is refractory to pharmacological therapies
  • They are suitable candidates for stereotactic neurosurgery
  • The tremor is of physiologic origin

The safety and effectiveness of deep brain stimulation therapy for essential tremor has not been established for:

  • Bilateral VIM stimulation
  • Patients with neurological disease origins other than essential tremor or Parkinson’s disease
  • Patients with a previous thalamotomy or surgical ablation procedure
  • Pregnancy or delivery
  • Patients under the age of 18 years
  • Patients over the age of 80 years

Download our clinical summary to see the clinical data about essential tremor and DBS.

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800-328-0810