Petition for Essential Tremor scanner to be heard at Holyrood
Mary Ramsay wants a focus ultra sound scanner in Scotland
Last updated 7th Sep 2020
A Scottish woman who has lived with a neurological disease her whole life is urging for investment in a scanner to help others with the condition.
Mary Ramsay, from Inverness, has Essential Tremor (ET) and wants the Scottish Government to back the provision of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) technology.
More submissions from the 64-year-old's petition for the scanner will be heard by the Public Petitions Committee this Thursday.
Mary's condition causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking and can affect almost any part of the body.
She would not benefit from the ultra sound treatment but is passionate that others could.
Mary said: "I am really pinning my hopes that at last there will be movement on this by the Government.
"The effects of Essential Tremor can have a serious impact on a person’s life, with lack of understanding and awareness of the condition leading to ineffective treatment, but also bullying.
"I want to prevent any child or adult going through verbal and physical abuse like I did.
"It is estimated that there could be 4000 people in Scotland with Essential Tremor.
"The main treatment at the moment is brain surgery or deep brain stimulation (DBS) which some people with the condition do not want to endure and DBS is expensive. The focus scanner is cheaper and is also a much less invasive procedure."
The University of Dundee are running fundraising for the technology which uses MRI imaging to guide high powered, focused ultrasound to a very small point.
At that point, molecules are vibrated extremely quickly, which creates intense local heat which destroys the tissue.
The technology allows clinicians to target a very specific focal point – with very little heating produced in front of and behind that point, so only the targeted tissue is affected.
Previously, the Public Petitions Committee agreed that the treatment had benefits and went back to the Scottish Government to ask why a decision has stalled, what was needed to achieve the introduction of the treatment and what the timescales were.
Labour MSP Rhoda Grant has been a long-time supporter of the cause.
She said: "At a time when the NHS is under severe pressure, I really believe that this innovation, which is already up and running in England, would not only save money in the long term but would really improve the quality of life for thousands of people.
"Mary has been a fantastic campaigner and has never given up and it would be a great day for her if she achieved her aim to help others."
Mary is the Chair of the Scottish Tremor Society and you can find more information here