Essential Tremor: Ultrasonics

(asked on 23rd July 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made by his Department's agencies and public bodies of the potential clinical benefits of MR-guided focused ultrasound as a treatment for essential tremor; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Caroline Dinenage Portrait
Caroline Dinenage
This question was answered on 3rd September 2019

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has reviewed Magnetic Resonance Imaging-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) as a treatment for essential tremor and published Interventional Procedure (IP) guidance on this treatment in June 2018. This concluded that the evidence on the safety of unilateral MRI-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for treatment-resistant essential tremor raises no major safety concerns. However, current evidence on its efficacy is limited in quantity. Therefore, this procedure should not be used unless there are special arrangements for clinical governance, consent, and audit or research.

NHS England is in the early stages of developing a national clinical commissioning policy for MRgFUS for essential tremor. The policy will determine whether or not the intervention will or be routinely commissioned and include criteria to guide clinical decision-making about the patients who may be able to benefit.

The development of a national clinical policy by NHS England is complex. This takes time, including proper consideration of the evidence and involvement of clinical experts. To ensure consistency and fairness, NHS England follows a standard three stage process. Full details can be found on the NHS England website at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/publication/methods-national-clinical-policies/

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