Essential tremor: Treatment options

The treatment of essential tremor depends on the tremor severity, location, and risk benefit ratios. Mild to moderate tremor usually will respond to oral agents such as noncardiac selective β-blockers or primidone. Other agents including ethanol, topiramate, benzodiazepines, gabapentin, levetiracetam, and zonisamide may be effective. There are very little data comparing different oral agents, but there is support for polypharmacy in some cases. Botulinum toxin injections are effective in some tremor patterns, especially wrist flexion/extension and he ad tremor. For severe tremor, surgical lesioning or deep brain stimulation of the thalamus is justified and often dramatically improves function. Copyright © 2006 by Current Science Inc.