Essential Tremor (ET) is called "essential"
because in the past it had no known cause. It's not
caused by another neurological condition, by injury,
or as a side effect of a medication. ET usually affects
the hands, but it may also affect the head and neck,
face, jaw, tongue, voice (causing a shaking or quivering
sound), the trunk, and rarely the legs and feet. The
tremor may be a rhythmic "back-and-forth"
or "to-and-fro" movement produced by involuntary
(unintentional) contractions of the muscle. Severity
of the tremor can vary greatly from hour to hour and
day to day.
Some people experience tremor only when the body
or a part of the body is held in certain positions.
This is postural tremor. Tremor that worsens during
a particular action such as writing or eating is kinetic
or action-specific tremor. Most people with ET have
both postural and kinetic tremor.
As many as 1 in 20 people older than age 40, and
1 in 5 people over 65 may have ET. There are approximately
ten million people with ET in the United States, and
many more worldwide. Of all neurologic diseases, ET
is the most common with the exception of stroke. It
is estimated that ET is eight to ten times more common
than Parkinson’s disease – a disorder
characterized by resting tremor, stiffness and slowness
of movement.
Treatment for essential tremor involves medications
as well as surgery.
Medical treatment for essential tremor may include
beta blockers (e.g. propanolol), benzodiazepines (e.g.
Klonopin), Botulinum toxin (Botox) and anti- seizure
medications.
Surgery for essential tremor can include deep brain
stimulation, surgical (radiofrequency) thalamotony
or gamma knife (radiosurgical) thalamotomy.
Deep brain stimulation involves a surgically implanted
medical device, much like a pacemaker, that delivers
electrical stimulation to very specific areas in the
brain and is proven to significantly reduce tremor
in patients.
Surgical thalamotomy involves using a small electrode
to burn a small region of cells in the brain felt
to be responsible for tremor. It results in significant
improvements in patients with tremor.
Gamma knife thalamotomy uses a focused beam of radiation
to burn a small region of cells in the brain felt
to be responsible for tremor. It results in significant
improvement in patients with tremor.
Neurological Surgery,
P.C. of Long Island, New York and New York
City (Queens) is one of the largest private
practices for neurological surgery in the
NYC and NY/NJ/CT Tri-State area, offering
patients the most advanced treatments of
brain and spine disorders, using minimally
invasive procedures like Gamma Knife, Cyber
Knife, Microdiscectomy, Spinal Stimulators, Kyphoplasty, X-Stop,
Carotid Stenting, Aneurysm Coiling and Interventional
Pain Management.
