Active clinical trials for "Dystonic Disorders"

Writer's cramp (WC) is a task specific dystonia that occurs from the moment patient starts writing. It leads to partial or complete inability to use the hand only during the handwriting gesture. It is characterized by the appearance of cramps or spasms of certain muscles of the hand and/or forearm. Clinical scales currently use for the assessment of WC fail to accurately reflect changes in the characteristics of handwriting in response to treatments (Botulinum Neurotoxin injections and / or retraining therapy). The Zigzag Tracking Task (ZZTT), easy to use in current practice provides useful information in terms of speed and precision of handwriting gesture. This timed handwriting test is to follow with a pen a zigzag path beset with obstacles to avoid. It permits to evaluate the time in seconds required to carry out the zigzag path and count the number of errors (output path and contacts with obstacles). The investigators propose to validate the ZZTT for the assessment of the handwriting gesture of WC.

Writer's cramp (WC) is a form of focal dystonia, a movement disorder characterized by sustained or intermittent muscle contractions causing abnormal, often repetitive movements, postures, or both. It typically manifests while writing, making handwriting impossible in the most severe cases. Treatment can be difficult, but one effective and well-tolerated treatment consists in local muscle injections with botulinum toxin. Although clinical improvement seems to be related to focal muscle chemodenervation, central plasticity changes may occur. The main aim of the study is to characterize and quantify the changes in intrinsic hand muscle cortical representations at rest and during isometric contractions of the finger muscles before and after treatment with botulinum toxin and the changes in sensorimotor integration in patients with writer's cramp.

Purpose - Objective : Sensorimotor adaptation allows the modification of the motor command taking into account the errors detected during execution of prior movements. It involves a large cortico-subcortical network. Isolated lesions of this network do not systematically alter sensorimotor adaptation except for cerebellar lesions. The cerebellum is thus a key structure for sensorimotor adaptation. However, the link between cerebellar and the cortical plasticity underlying sensorimotor adaptation remain unknown. Alteration of sensorimotor adaptation is associated with dystonia but it is unclear whether it is a cause or consequence of dystonia. It has been hypothesized that the abnormal plasticity observed in dystonia could account for the associated alteration of sensorimotor adaptation. Classically, basal ganglia dysfunction is considered to be crucial for dystonia pathogenesis. However, recent studies suggest that the involvement of the cerebellum may also be important in this setting. In primary dystonia, imaging studies showed abnormal cerebellar activation during sensorimotor adaptation tasks and neurophysiological studies demonstrated a decrease of cerebellar output. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of the cerebellum in the cortical plasticity underlying sensorimotor adaptation both in healthy subjects (normal plasticity) and in dystonic patients (abnormal plasticity). - Methods: Paired associative stimulation PAS consists in repetitive pairing of a peripheral nerve and a cortical stimulation. This kind of stimulation has been designed to induce artificial plasticity that can be easily measured. This PAS induced sensorimotor plasticity is exacerbated and has lost its topographical specificity in dystonic patients.TMS using trains of TMS pulses (rTMS) can be applied on the cerebellum to modulate its output. We will test the effect of rTMS induced modulation (cTBS- inhibitory, iTBS-excitatory, sham) of the cerebellar output on PAS induced plasticity in patients with dystonia and healthy control. We will also assess the acute effect of the rTMS induced modulation of the cerebellar output on the dystonic symptoms and on the performance at a validated sensorimotor adaptation task. This will be done by double blind post-hoc scoring of the dystonia (BFM or TWSTRS) on standardized videorecording and measurement of the performance at the task after each rTMS session (cTBS, iTBS, sham). Finally, we will assess the variation of PAS effect on other parameters reflecting cortical excitability after each rTMS session (cTBS, iTBS, sham).

The intraoperative neuroelectrophysiological signals were collected from patients undergoing STN-DBS under general anesthesia in the Neurosurgery Department of Wuhan union Hospital, and their preoperative conditions and postoperative efficacy will be evaluated.

This study will examine the prevalence of four previously identified non-motor markers in a population of cervical dystonia patients, unaffected family members, and healthy volunteers in an attempt to identify a distinct combination of non-motor symptoms that may be indicative of disease development.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate primary cervical dystonia as compared to healthy control subjects and DYT 1 dystonia as compared to healthy control subjects by examining cognitive measures, physical measures, and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The secondary aim of this study is to investigate a specific drug therapy for primary cervical dystonia to develop a functional MRI (fMRI) research paradigm. The drug, trihexyphenidyl, is FDA approved to treat Parkinson's Disease and is commonly prescribed by physicians as a treatment for symptoms of primary cervical dystonia.

Background: - People with writer s cramp develop tightness in arm muscles and abnormal hand posture when writing, which makes writing difficult or impossible. At present, there is no suitable rating scale to measure the symptoms of or disability associated with writer s cramp. Researchers want to videotape people performing simple writing tasks. They will then compare the performance of people with writer s cramp on these tasks to those of people without writer s cramp. This information will help develop a rating scale to evaluate writer s cramp. Objectives: - To develop a new rating scale for writer s cramp. Eligibility: - Individuals at least 18 years of age who have writer s cramp. Design: Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical history. Participants will have one outpatient study visit that will last about 3 hours. Participants will perform tasks related to writing, such as writing passages and drawing spirals and loops. They will be videotaped during these tasks. They will repeat some of the writing tasks three more times; on paper attached to a writing tablet, directly on the writing tablet, and on a computer tablet. The angles made by the joints will be measured at rest not while writing healthy volunteers.

This study addresses postures and range of motion in cervical dystonia (Spasmodic Torticollis). It uses 3D miniature and wireless motion captures sensors, and aims to increase the understanding of the biomechanics of the movement disorders of the cervical column in this pathology. In addition, the clinical state of cervical dystonia of the patients will be assessed, using the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS). The investigators will compare the results between control and study groups.

The purpose of the study is to document long-term response in real-life practice after injection cycles with BoNT-A in subjects suffering from idiopathic cervical dystonia (Long-term clinical and pharmaco-economic data).

This is a research study using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate interactions between the sensory system and the motor cortex in primary generalized dystonia (DYT1 dystonia) subjects who undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. The sensory system is the body's sense organs - smell, sight, sound, etc. - and the motor cortex is the part of your brain where nerve impulses control voluntary muscle activity.