Clinical trial NCT00773253
Conditions: Cervical Dystonia
Keywords: dystonia cervical dystonia Botox idiopathic primary cervical dystonia
Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco
Start date: 2008-04-01; Completion date: 2011-01-01
Enrollment: 10 participants; Allocation: RANDOMIZED; Intervention model: CROSSOVER

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine how to improve treatment of patients with cervical dystonia who have not been helped with standard Botox injections. This study is for patients with cervical dystonia who have not benefited from treatment with Botox using conventional "single lead electromyographic (EMG) techniques" for injection. The study aim is to see if these patients may have significantly more benefit if their Botox is injected into muscles that have been chosen with a multi-channel EMG mapping study of the neck prior to Botox injection.

Detailed description:
The most common type of primary late-onset dystonia is cervical dystonia. Botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) injections are a safe and effective treatment for cervical dystonia in a majority of patients, however, a significant minority of patients (between 15 and 25%) have a suboptimal response to Botulinum toxin therapy. It is unclear why some patients do not respond maximally to neurotoxin therapy.

Studies using needle electromyographic "mapping" in the evaluation of cervical dystonia have revealed that clinical examination alone is insufficient for determining which muscles contribute to the dystonic movement. When compared to needle electromyography (EMG) "mapping studies", experienced movement disorders specialists correctly identify only 59% of active muscles and believe that 25% of muscles which upon EMG evaluation are found to be quiescent, are involved in the dystonia. The selection of incorrect muscles for injection of Botulinum toxin may explain why some patients have a sub-optimal response.

This study seeks to measure outcomes when the muscles involved in dystonia are identified using "mapping" via an 8-12 channel EMG. In the proposed study, the most involved/active dystonic muscles will be correctly identified through simultaneous 8-12 channel mapping resulting in a more informed injection strategy, which may improve response to Botulinum toxin A treatment as compared to single lead EMG based injections. This study changes routine clinical care only by adding the step of studying the muscles of the neck with simultaneous EMG mapping to allow a more objective injection strategy.

Arms: arm 1: All patients will undergo injection using conventional single channel EMG-guided technique. This will be used as a baseline for multi-channel mapping-based injections. Patients will be randomized to undergo single-channel vs. multi-channel assessment upon study entry and will then cross over to the alternate arm. arm 2: Patients will receive multi-channel EMG-guided Botox injection before or after they have been treated with single-channel EMG-guided Botox, depending on which group they are assigned in the cross-over design.
Interventions: intervention 1: Botulinum toxin A
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: All patients will be treated with Botox using both single-channel and multi-channel EMG mapping.

Protocol documents: