An interventional study of LIFUS and Sham LIFUS in Parkinson's Disease (PD), Essential Tremor and Orthostatic Tremor, sponsored by University Health Network, Toronto. Recruiting at 1 site in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 85 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-13.
Sponsored by University Health Network, Toronto · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
Low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFUS) has the potential to be used as a means of non-invasive neuro-modulation. To this day, the use of LIFUS is under investigation. Studies in healthy subjects have shown that application of LIFUS to the motor region of the brain can mildly decrease neuron excitability in healthy controls. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the effects of LIFUS on brain tissue excitability in patients with movement disorders in order to elucidate the therapeutic potential of LIFUS.
4,573 studies on the registry are indexed under Parkinson Disease; 1,086 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 50 is above the median of 40 across 3,353 interventional studies indexed under Parkinson Disease.
Browse Parkinson Disease studies →University Health Network, Toronto is the lead sponsor of 1,438 studies on the registry; 297 are open to participants now.
Of its 17 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 3 (18%) have results posted.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
MMSE and MoCA
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants receive low-intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation (LIFUS) targeting cortical or subcortical brain regions, with or without concurrent TMS or EEG/DBS recordings, depending on the study component.
Device: LIFUS
Participants receive sham LIFUS stimulation designed to mimic the experimental condition without delivering therapeutic ultrasound energy.
Device: Sham LIFUS
Low-intensity focused ultrasound neuromodulation delivered to targeted cortical and/or subcortical brain regions to transiently modulate neural activity. LIFUS may be applied alone or in combination with concurrent neurophysiological assessments (e.g., TMS-evoked motor evoked potentials, EEG recordings, or DBS local field potential sensing) depending on the study component.
Sham low-intensity focused ultrasound stimulation designed to mimic the sensory and procedural aspects of active LIFUS without delivering therapeutic ultrasound energy. The sham condition serves as a control to maintain blinding of participants and investigators.
Neurophysiological Effects of Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound
To determine whether LIFUS applied to cortical and subcortical brain regions modulates neurophysiological activity, as measured by suppression of transcranial magnetic stimulation-evoked motor evoked potentials and elicitation of local field potentials recorded from implanted deep brain stimulation devices (e.g., Medtronic Percept), following active LIFUS compared to sham stimulation.
Time frame: Baseline and post-intervention on Day 1
Change in Clinical and Behavioral Function Following LIFUS
To determine whether LIFUS stimulation produces measurable changes in clinical measures of motor function and behavior, including tremor amplitude, bradykinesia, rigidity, fine motor control, affective state, and craving-related behaviors, following active LIFUS compared to sham stimulation.
Time frame: Baseline and post-intervention on Day 1
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