Treatment of cervical dystonia

Abstract

Introduction: Cervical dystonia is an involuntary movement of the neck muscles, often characterized by disabling pain. The diagnosis is based on clinical presentation and treatment usually involves injections of botulinum toxin

Areas covered: The areas covered in this review include non-pharmacologic interventions, oral medications and injections of botulinum toxin, intrathecal baclofen and deep brain stimulation therapy.

Expert opinion: First line treatment of cervical dystonia is periodic injection of botulinum toxin into the overactive neck muscles. The formulation depends on the physician's experience and the patients prior exposures. Each formulation is unique and should be considered a separate branch of the treatment paradigm. All injections must be formulated for the individual treatment. Each formulation has been demonstrated in large published trials to be effective. Physicians need to educate themselves on the dosing and side effect profiles of each formulation to best counsel their patients. Cervical dystonia is a disabling disease but can be managed successfully in most cases with the multiple therapeutic modalities available.

Keywords::

• botulinum toxin
• cervical dystonia
• spasmodic torticollis

Notes

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