Tremor & Parkinson's Surgery Explained with Dr. Wu | Podcast Guru

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Parkinson's meds stopped working like they used to? Tremor making it hard to write, eat, or hold a cup steady? You're not stuck choosing between "wait it out" and "risky brain surgery." Dr. Chengyuan Wu is a board certified neurosurgeon who performs single-day, asleep, robot-assisted deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease and essential tremor, plus incisionless focused ultrasound for tremor and surgery for drug-resistant epilepsy. After 2,500+ surgeries, he breaks down what DBS actually involves, who qualifies, what recovery looks like, and why modern DBS carries a lower 30-day complication rate than a hip or knee replacement. No scare tactics, no "last resort" thinking. Just clear answers so you can make an informed choice about getting your function back. New episodes on Parkinson's, tremor, and epilepsy surgery weekly.

Recent Episodes

5 Parkinson’s Mistakes I See Patients Regret Later

📌 Learn more about Dr. Chengyuan Wu: https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-chengyuan-wu-3nsg5 Most Parkinson's regrets I hear about do not come from a bad surgery. They come from waiting too long to even ask the question. These five mistakes feel completely reasonable when you are making them, but they quietly cost people years of better function. In this video, I'm going to walk through the five most common mistakes I see Parkinson's patients make, and explain what to do differently. ⏱️ ...

9 MIN

Living With a Brain Stimulator: What Patients Need to Know

📌 Learn more about Dr. Chengyuan Wu: https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-chengyuan-wu-3nsg5 Can you shower with a brain stimulator? Fly with it? What happens when the battery dies? These are the questions patients ask once the fear of surgery fades and daily life with DBS becomes real. In this episode, I'm going to walk through exactly what living with a deep brain stimulator looks like day to day, from charging and airport security to MRIs and what to do if it suddenly stops working....

13 MIN

Parkinson’s Brain Surgery Is Safer Than a Knee Replacement? Neurosurgeon Explains

📌 Learn more about Dr. Chengyuan Wu: https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-chengyuan-wu-3nsg5 Most people assume brain surgery is more dangerous than a knee replacement. The data says otherwise. As a neurosurgeon who performs deep brain stimulation regularly, I wanted to know if that fear actually holds up, so my team compared DBS against the most common elective surgeries in the country. In this episode, I'm going to break down the real complication data behind DBS surgery and explain ...

15 MIN

Neurosurgeon Answers: DBS or Focused Ultrasound for Tremor?

📌 Learn more about Dr. Chengyuan Wu: https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-chengyuan-wu-3nsg5 If you have essential tremor or tremor from Parkinson's disease, you have probably heard about two very different procedures, deep brain stimulation and focused ultrasound. One uses an adjustable implant. The other creates a permanent lesion with no incision at all. Both can work, but they are not interchangeable. In this episode, I'm going to compare DBS and focused ultrasound side by side, co...

17 MIN

This Tremor Treatment Sounds Impossible (But It’s Already Here)

📌 Learn more about Dr. Chengyuan Wu: https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-chengyuan-wu-3nsg5 Imagine a tremor that makes it hard to write, drink from a glass, or use a fork could be reduced in a matter of hours. No incision, no drilling into the skull, no implanted device. That is what focused ultrasound is designed to do. In this episode, I'm going to explain how focused ultrasound works, who it may help, what patients should expect during and after treatment, and what the major risks...

18 MIN