ADDUCTION SPASTIC DYSPHONIA - CLINIC AND TREATMENT

Adduction spastic dystonia (SD) is currently considered a focal dyston ia involving laryngeal muscles. SD is one of the most poorly known foc al dystonias. We reviewed our experience with twenty-nine patients wit h adduction SD and compared the clinical and epidemiologic variables w ith the other focal dystonias studied at our institution in the last f ive years (132 patients), Mean age of patients (47.2 +/- 13 years), se x, clinical course in years (5.7 +/- 5) and presence of circadian fluc tuations did not differ significantly hem those observed in patients w ith other focal dystonias, Likewise, there were no significant differe nces regarding the presence of a family history of dystonia, essential tremor, or stuttering, Our results confirm the similarity of the clin ical and epidemiologic data of SD with the other focal dystonias. All patients with SD were treated with a local injection of botulinum toxi n, A total of 108 treatments were performed, 41 with a visually guided transoral technique and 67 with a percutaneous technique. The transor al technique was effective in all cases (41/41) but not all treatments with the percutaneous technique were effective (53/67). Three patient s required the shift to the transoral procedure to achieve enough symp tomatic alleviation.