The Division of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery here at Penn Medicine leads a program aimed at achieving the highest level of excellence in patient care and technological innovation. The Division offers some of the most exciting and transformative surgeries for patients spanning movement disorders, epilepsy, pain, spasticity, and severe psychiatric illness. What is most exciting about the procedures offered by this Division is that they are minimally and even non-invasive, ranging from Deep Brain Stimulation and Focused Ultrasound to Laser Ablation, Robotics and Gamma Knife Surgery.
Our Parkinson's Disease & Movement Disorders Center, which has been recognized by the National Parkinson Foundation as one of 45 worldwide "Centers of Excellence," is among the largest of its kind in the country; and it's by far the leading movement disorder program in the Philadelphia and tri-state region.
Our epilepsy patients at Penn are initially evaluated at the Penn Epilepsy Center, a top center in the region recognized by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers as a Level 4 epilepsy center. Here you'll not only find neurosurgeons but also epileptologists, radiologists, and psychologists working together to provide individualized, comprehensive care.
For more than 30 years, our team has provided unparalleled care to thousands of patients annually. Our work is always evolving as we continue to incorporate the newest discoveries from innovative research and scientific literature. And much of that innovative work originates right here at Penn.
The Center for Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery serves as the surgery center for the restoration of function affected by neurological disease and is an international training center for surgeons in the field. In addition, the center is pioneering novel development of the therapies for disorders of the brain that are untreated, with multiple ongoing clinical trials for patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders associated with obesity, as well as sleep disorders and freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease.
MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound
A new procedure in fighting against tremors, essential tremor, and Parkinson's Disease is the MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound. It is a non-invasive, non-surgical procedure that involves radio frequency focused beams of acoustic energy to heat and destroy a small, targeted area of tissue in the brain without harming adjacent tissues. To ensure patient safety, focused ultrasound uses an MRI thermal imaging system that measures temperature changes in the skull.
This new procedure allows the physician to perform a safe and effective non-invasive therapy with little to no harm to the surrounding tissue and with minimal side effects.
At Penn Medicine, we are the only ones in the region with the MR-guided focused ultrasound system. This procedure can be transformative for patients with essential tremor. And that is our goal: complete suppression of essential tremor with focused ultrasound.
There are two main differences between MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound and Deep Brain Stimulation. First, focused ultrasound is nonsurgical, which means no holes are made in the skull and no hardware, like a pacemaker, is needed. Second, focused ultrasound makes a lesion on the brain, which means the treatment should last long term. Our team offers both technologies and help guide patients and their families towards the best treatment for them.
Diseases We Treat
- Parkinson's
- Essential Tremor
- Epilepsy
- Dystonia and Dyskinesia
- Tourette Syndrome
- Spasticity
- Severe Psychiatric Disease
- Facial and Spinal Pain