Scalpel-free surgery.
(photo credit: INSIGHTEC)
Phyllis Walker, a 77-yearold woman from Ivor, Virginia, was unable to write
letters to her grandsons, soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. She had a
neurological condition known as essential tremor that caused her hands to shake
uncontrollably.In August 2011, Walker participated in an experimental
study at the University of Virginia where doctors used a procedure known as
focused ultrasound. I n a matter of seconds, precision-generated sound waves
seared away the tiny misfiring nerve center in Walker’s brain that was causing
the problem. Walker could now use her hand normally again. She could resume
writing to her grandsons.