MIAMI: Kimberly Spletter’s knee would pop backward involuntarily, or her leg would shake uncontrollably. Sometimes she’d cross her legs tightly, trying to make it all stop — to no avail.
“I had to live with it,” said the 50-year-old Frederick woman, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. “I tried to keep it to a dull roar, but that was the best that I could do.”
That all changed in a matter of hours last week after Spletter underwent a groundbreaking procedure that guided ultrasound waves through her skull to kill the brain cells interfering with her motor skills. She’s participating in a clinical study looking at a cutting-edge way — known as focused ultrasound — to possibly treat certain Parkinson’s symptoms noninvasively.