Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2006 , Vol 52 , Num 4

Botulinum Toxin Type A Injection in the Treatment of Focal Hand Dystonia: Case Report

Altınay Göksel Karatepe 1 ,Taciser Kaya 1 ,Uğur Karlıbaş 2 ,Ahmet Can Kulan 3 ,Rezzan Günaydın 4
1 İzmir Bozyaka Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Kliniği, İzmir, Türkiye
2 İzmir Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Fizik Tedavi ve Rehabilitasyon Kliniği, İzmir
3 İzmir Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi Nöroloji Kliniği, İzmir
4 İzmir Bozkaya Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Fizik Tedavi ve Rehabilitasyon Kliniği, İzmir

Focal hand dystonia is an action dystonia and frequently task-specific, with involuntary muscle contractions occurring only when patients perform specific acts such as writing or playing an instrument. Although the symptoms are resistant to most treatment regimens, botulinum toxin injection has been found to be effective for symptomatic relief in focal hand dystonia. In this case report two patients with focal hand dystonia, one with writer's cramp and another with musician's dystonia, who showed improvement in their symptoms with botulinum toxin injections into the forearm muscles, are presented. The effectiveness of botulinum toxin in the treatment of the focal hand dystonia is discussed by taking into consideration of the results of the previous studies.

Keywords : Focal hand dystonia, writer's cramp, musicia's dystonia, botulinum toxi