Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42038056›Full record

ArticleNMC case report journal2026

Multimodal Imaging to Support Vim Targeting in Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy: Two Technically and Anatomically Challenging Cases.

Mohammad Ali Akbar, Tomoko Hanada, Kazumichi Yamada, Takuichiro Higashi, Tsuneo Makiuchi, Ryosuke Hanaya

Abstract readCase Reports
In one paragraph

Article in NMC case report journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Mohammad Ali AkbarDepartment of Neurosurgery, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan.
Tomoko HanadaDepartment of Neurosurgery, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan.
Kazumichi YamadaDepartment of Rehabilitation, Kumamoto Health Science University, Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan.
Takuichiro HigashiDepartment of Neurosurgery, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan.
Tsuneo MakiuchiDepartment of Neurosurgery, Atsuchi Rehabilitation Hospital, Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan.
Ryosuke HanayaDepartment of Neurosurgery, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Essential tremor is the most common adult movement disorder, typically presenting with kinetic and postural tremor that interferes with daily activities. For patients unresponsive to medications, surgical options such as radiofrequency thalamotomy, deep brain stimulation, and magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound can provide therapeutic benefit. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound, an incisionless lesioning modality, has gained clinical use; however, accurate targeting of the ventral intermediate nucleus remains challenging because the nucleus cannot be directly visualized on routine magnetic resonance imaging and exhibits substantial individual variability. This report describes 2 cases of medication-refractory essential tremor treated with magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound ventral intermediate nucleus thalamotomy under structurally complex conditions. One patient had a thick skull with a low skull density ratio, and the other exhibited marked thalamic distortion. In both cases, individualized ventral intermediate nucleus targeting was performed using multimodal imaging that combined a stereotactic planning platform, dentatorubrothalamic tract tractography, and Fast Gray Matter Acquisition T1 Inversion Recovery. The Fast Gray Matter Acquisition T1 Inversion Recovery sequence, which enhances gray-white matter contrast, provided relative contrast of intrathalamic structures, including signal patterns corresponding to the internal medullary lamina. When integrated with connectivity-based dentatorubrothalamic tract tractography, this approach provided complementary information to support anatomically guided targeting. Stepwise sonication with intraoperative thermal monitoring resulted in substantial tremor reduction without new neurological deficits. These observations suggest that combining Fast Gray Matter Acquisition T1 Inversion Recovery with tractography offers practical, complementary guidance for ventral intermediate nucleus targeting, including in settings without access to advanced commercial integration software. Although limited to 2 patients, this work suggests the value of accessible multimodal imaging for improving confidence in anatomy-informed targeting in magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound and potentially other lesioning procedures.

Indexed as

essential tremorfast gray matter acquisition T1 inversion recovery imagingmagnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasoundtractographyventral intermediate nucleus

Identifiers

PMID42038056
PMCPMC13102527

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.