Objective: Evaluation of cognitive function before and following unilateral FUS VIM-thalamotomy in tremor patients.

Background: VIM focused ultrasound (FUS) thalamotomy has established efficacy in tremor relief. Its effect on cognition is not established.

Method: Patients that underwent unilateral VIM thalamotomy were evaluated using the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) before and following the procedure

Results: Seventy-five patients, 46 with essential tremor (ET) and 29 with Parkinson’s disease (PD, median age 68 years (range 44-87) were evaluated. PD patients were significantly younger, median age 62 years (range 44-77 years) than ET patients median age 70.5 years (range 62-87 years; p=0.0006) and median disease duration was significantly longer in ET patients than PD patients (10; range 2-30 years) (6; range 1.5-11 years, p<0.001). MoCA scores of ET patients was significantly lower than that of PD patients (ET median 26; range 16-30 vs. 28; range 20-30 in PD patients, p=0.0045). In ET patients the median overall MoCA score significantly improved from a median of 26 (range 16-30) to a median of 27 (range 18-30) 1 month after treatment (p=0.0074) and a median of 28 (range 18-30) 6 months after treatment (p=0.0022). In PD patients a non-significant improvement was seen.

Conclusion: VIM FUS thalamotomy does not cause cognitive decline. Additional studies with a larger group of patients are needed to substantiate our results.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/cognition-evaluation-in-patients-following-focused-ultrasound-thalamotomy-for-tremor/