Brain Study Videos

Essential Tremor Centralized Brain Repository
Essential tremor is a disease that affects the lives of as many as one in twenty Americans but its cause remains a medical mystery. Brain donation (also called postmortem examination or autopsy) is the only way to solve this mystery. Unfortunately, there is a severe shortage of essential tremor brains. Medical researchers have only been able to study a few brains from people with essential tremor because, until recently, no national brain donor program has existed. Medical researchers at Columbia University have recently taken a huge step forward. In 2003, these researchers, lead by Elan Louis M.D., established for the first time a centralized brain bank to serve the essential tremor community. This will enable doctors to begin to actively study what happens in the brains of people with essential tremor. With a brain donor program, doctors will be able to study the changes in brain structure and metabolism that may explain the cause of essential tremor. Better treatments and, eventually, a cure for essential tremor, will only come about when doctors have developed a better understanding of these brain changes. Brain donation is essential to this effort. This can only be a collaborative effort involving doctors and people with essential tremor. We need your help. If you are interested in helping us to build this brain bank, please let us know by calling us at (212) 305-8513 or emailing us at [email protected] and we will send you an informational packet.