LOUISVILLE, Ky. —

It's been one year since Norton Healthcare became the only hospital in the region to offer high-intensity focused ultrasound to patients with tremors.

The procedure is outpatient and involves no surgery. According to Dr. Abigail Rao, a neurosurgeon with Norton, a helmet-like transducer device is placed on the patient's head. The patient is then put into an MRI machine.

"So the MRI allows us to image and visualize the real-time anatomy of the brain and to measure heat in a very specific part of the brain. When we deliver enough ultrasound energy from this helmet-like transducer, the energy concentrates down to a pinpoint spot in a manner that the surgeon controls from the surgical workstation. And that concentration of energy heats up the brain tissue," said Rao. "So wh

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