Parkinson’s disease used to feel like a distant, rare condition, but that is no longer the case. Today, more than 10 million people around the world are affected, and the numbers continue to grow.
Men seem to be at slightly higher risk than women, and aging populations in places like Europe, North America, and parts of Asia are seeing the biggest increases.
What is most concerning is not just how common Parkinson’s has become, but how quietly it begins. Long before obvious tremors appear, people may experience subtle changes in sleep, energy, movement, or mood that are easy to overlook.
By the time Parkinson’s is diagnosed, many brain cells that produce dopamine—an important chemical for movement—have already died. Once these cells are gone, the damage cannot be reversed.
Despite many years of research, most current treatments still focus on easing symptoms rather than fixing the underlying problem. Medications can temporarily boost dopamine levels, and deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery can help people regain some control of their movements.
However, DBS does not help with other common symptoms like sleep issues, anxiety, or memory problems.
That’s what led researchers to explore something different—focused ultrasound. This technology uses precise sound waves to reach deep parts of the brain without surgery. Unlike DBS, there are no wires, no implants, and no cuts.
These sound waves can change how brain cells behave and can even temporarily open the blood–brain barrier, which normally blocks many drugs from entering the brain.
This new idea inspired a fresh question: What if we combined focused ultrasound with DBS instead of using one or the other? Could the strengths of both methods work together to treat Parkinson’s more effectively? That was the starting point for a new review article recently published in the journal 3 Biotech.
The review explains that DBS is good at calming abnormal motor activity in parts of the brain that control movement. Focused ultrasound, on the other hand, offers more precision and can reach areas that electrical stimulation cannot.
In animal studies, combining the two approaches has led to better movement, reduced abnormal brain rhythms, and even allowed lower levels of DBS to be used—possibly leading to fewer side effects.
But what’s even more promising is how this combined method could help with the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s.
For many patients, it’s not just the shaking that causes the most trouble—it’s the anxiety, mood changes, sleep difficulties, and slow thinking. Focused ultrasound can reach brain networks involved in these areas, offering hope for relief where DBS alone may fall short.
Another exciting possibility is drug delivery. Focused ultrasound can temporarily open the blood–brain barrier in specific spots like the substantia nigra, the area most affected in Parkinson’s.
This could allow treatments like antibodies, gene therapy, or other protective substances to reach areas that were previously off-limits. If combined with DBS to stabilize brain activity, this could be a step toward slowing down or even stopping the disease—not just treating the symptoms.
Writing this review was less about pushing one treatment over another, and more about connecting ideas from different fields. Parkinson’s disease affects many parts of the brain at once. It doesn’t care about medical specialties or technology categories, and maybe our treatments shouldn’t either.
The idea of combining DBS with focused ultrasound is still very new. There are challenges ahead—technical, medical, and safety-related.
But with so many people living with Parkinson’s, and with symptoms that go beyond movement, this new approach could be a valuable tool. Sometimes, big advances don’t come from brand-new inventions, but from bringing together things that already exist in a smarter, more connected way.
If you care about Parkinson’s disease, please read studies that Vitamin B may slow down cognitive decline, and Mediterranean diet could help lower risk of Parkinson’s.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how wheat gluten might be influencing our brain health, and Olive oil: a daily dose for better brain health..
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