"Quality over quantity:" smaller, targeted lesions optimize quality of life outcomes after MR-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for essential tremor.

Introduction: MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) thalamotomy of the nucleus ventralis intermedius (VIM) has emerged as a powerful and safe treatment modality for refractory essential tremor. While the efficacy of this technique has been extensively described, much remains unclear about how to optimize MRgFUS for patient quality of life (QoL), which may depend as much on a patient's adverse effect profile as on the magnitude of tremor suppression. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been used to help guide targeting strategies but can pose certain challenges for scalability.

Focused ultrasound for functional neurosurgery.

Introduction: Brain lesioning is a fundamental technique in the functional neurosurgery world. It has been investigated for decades and presented promising results long before novel pharmacological agents were introduced to treat movement disorders, psychiatric disorders, pain, and epilepsy. Ablative procedures were replaced by effective drugs during the 1950s and by Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in the 1990s as a reversible neuromodulation technique.

Real-time detection, classification, and quantification of apneic episodes using miniature surface motion sensors in rats.

Background: Real-time detection and classification of apneic episodes remain significant challenges. This study explores the applicability of a novel method of monitoring the respiratory effort and dynamics for rapid detection and classification of apneic episodes.

Methods: Obstructive apnea (OA) and hypopnea/central apnea (CA) were induced in nine tracheostomized rats, by short-lived airway obstruction and administration of succinylcholine, respectively.