Objective:

To systematically review the literature regarding bilateral (MR-guided focused ultrasound) MRgFUS and essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background:

MRgFUS can lead to incisionless energy delivery. The Food and Drug Administration and Conformité Européenne approved staged bilateral MRgFUS to treat ET in 2020 and PD in 2021.

Design/Methods:

The PubMed (Medline) database was used to find the studies in electronic form about MRgFUS in ET and PD published to June 2024. The search terms to use for the search were “MRgFUS, essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease.” There was no language restriction. The initial search obtained 358 studies, from which nine were selected.

Results:

Nine studies were found, seven about ET and two about PD. There were 40 individuals in the ET group; the mean and median age were 68.05 (SD: 7.1) and 71 years (range: 36–81 years), respectively. There were 25 individuals in the PD group; the mean and median age were 65.4 (SD: 2) and 67 years (range: 32–88). The most commonly performed scale for ET was the clinical rating scale for tremor (CRST), and for PD, it was the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). The main target of MRgFUS for ET was the cerebellothalamic tract and ventral intermediate thalamic nucleus (Vim), and for PD, it was pallidothalamic tract. The interval between the procedures (time between MRgFUS on one side and the contralateral side) for ET was mean and median time were 22.45 (SD: 10.4) and 24 months (range: 7–56 months); for PD, they were 20 (SD: 10) and 16.5 months (range: 5–38 months).

Conclusions:

The studies reported safety and efficacy of staged-bilateral MRgFUS for managing tremors associated with ET and PD.