Botulinum Injections for Idiopathic Cervical Dystonia: a Longitudinal Study.

Botulinum toxin (BT) injections into the cervical muscles are an effective and commonly practiced treatment approach for cervical dystonia. In this retrospective longitudinal study, we collected data from the Sheba electronic medical records on consecutive patients with idiopathic cervical dystonia (ICD), treated regularly with periodic BT injections between the years 2008-2020. All treatment visits were analyzed regarding type of toxin, dose injected, and clinical outcomes. The vast majority of patients were treated with abobotulinum toxin A. Sixty-four ICD patients (51 (79.7%) females, onset at age 45.8 ± 13.7 years) were treated over 17.1 ± 13.9 (range 3 to 49) visits per patient; BT treatment efficacy increased gradually from initial treatment sessions to visit 13, when it achieved a steady state. While the subjective report of percentage improvement and its duration were around 78.9 ± 17.1% for 2.8 ± 1.0 months, respectively, the dose of BT increased significantly over the years (p = 0.006). Side effects (SE) were not rare, and commonly recurred after subsequent sessions and were usually mild and short-lasting, with dysphagia being the most common (~17.5%), followed by neck/arm weakness (11.9%) and cervical pain (8.9%). Repeated injections of BT for ICD remain beneficial for patients over several years of therapy, and despite mild SE, patients tend to adhere to a 3-4 months interval schedule.

Repetitive deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease: A feasibility study.

OBJECTIVES: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), using standard coils, provided modest symptomatic benefits in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). In our previous exploratory studies, using the newly developed Hesed coil (providing deeper rTMS; rDTMS) high frequency (HF), excitatory rDTMS over the primary motor cortex (M1), did not achieve sufficient beneficial effect for PD symptoms, while low frequency (LF) inhibitory stimulation, was mildly beneficial. To further investigate the optimal rDTMS stimulation parameters for PD patients, and to assess whether there is an added value for dual stimulation, consisting of HF rDTMS over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) along with LF M1 rDTMS. The rational for the selection of the current stimulation parameters and sites lies on the previous studies that demonstrated an inhibitory effect of 1Hz rTMS on the increased cortical activity in PD as well as dopamine release by PFC stimulation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An open comparative active study of one month duration (12 sessions) of LF rDTMS over M1 alone (n=9) or combined with HF PFC rDTMS (M1-PFC, n=10). Outcome measures included the total and motor Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale scores (T-UPDRS and M-UPDRS) and other variables, were collected at baseline and on days 30 and 60. RESULTS: For the M1+PFC group, T-UPDRS score improved from baseline to day 30, by 15% (median: 52 points, decreased to 44, p=0.02, effect size: 0.51) and M-UPDRS score improved by 24% (median: 37 points decreased to 28, p=0.04, effect size: 0.47). The corresponding results for the M1 group were insignificant. Additionally, the between groups comparison, was insignificant. CONCLUSION: rDTMS, consisting of M1 excitation with PFC inhibition improved PD motor symptoms but was not significantly superior to M1 rDTMS alone. rDTMS stimulation protocols for M1 should be further evaluated in larger scale controlled studies.

Neurological outcome in cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis treated with chenodeoxycholic acid: early versus late diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: To present the long-term neurological outcome of Jewish Israeli patients with cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX) after several years of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) treatment. METHODS: A cross sectional observational study of all patients with a diagnosis of CTX followed in a referral outpatient clinic during the years 2003-2012. RESULTS: Eighteen patients (10 men) from 11 families were enrolled. Sixteen patients were included in the analysis (2 patients had low compliance for treatment). The mean ± SD age at last evaluation was 35.0 ± 9.2 years (range, 16-45 years). After their diagnosis, at age 22.6 ± 10.8 years, all patients were treated with CDCA. Patients who started treatment after the age of 25 years had worse outcome and were significantly more limited in ambulation (P = 0.004) and more cognitively impaired (P = 0.047). Five patients who started treatment after 25 years of age continued to deteriorate despite CDCA treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Beginning CDCA treatment as early as possible is crucial to preventing neurological damage and deterioration in CTX. After significant neurological pathology is established, the effect of treatment is limited and deterioration may continue.

Neuropsychiatric and cognitive features in autosomal-recessive early parkinsonism due to PINK1 mutations.

Autosomal-recessive early-onset Parkinsonism (AREP) due to PINK1 mutations is characterized by an early-onset, slowly progressive disease, with a good response to levodopa. Psychiatric and cognitive disturbances associated with AREP have rarely been reported in the literature. We describe 2 brothers from a Jewish-Iraqi consanguineous family with a homozygous PINK1 nonsense mutation. Both patients presented with anxiety and dysphoria accompanied by a gait disturbance that developed subsequently into a clinical depression. During the course of the disease, both developed drug-induced behavioral disturbances of the hedonistic homeostatic dysregulation type and 1 had drug-induced psychosis. The first patient had been diagnosed with mild mental retardation and during the 22 years of disease had further deteriorated; the second developed frontal-type dementia at an early age, 20 years after onset. Their father had a psychiatric disorder but no Parkinsonism. This report expands the phenotypic profile of PINK1-related disease, presenting unique psychiatric and cognitive features as part of the clinical picture.