Active clinical trials for "Dystonic Disorders"

Background: - Blepharospasm is caused by excessive contraction of the muscles that close the eye. One treatment is botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), which works by weakening those muscles. Like BoNT, acetyl hexapeptide-8 (AH-8) works to weaken the muscles, but is available as a skin cream. AH-8 is the active ingredient in a number of cosmetic creams used to treat wrinkles. Researchers thought that AH-8 cream could be used to treat blepharospasm, but the original dose studied was not very effective. They want to try a higher dose of AH-8 in a cream to see if it can be a more effective treatment. Objectives: - To see if AH-8 cream can improve the symptoms of blepharospasm. Eligibility: - Individuals at least 18 years of age who have blepharospasm that is severe enough to require treatment. Design: This study will involve up to eight study visits. Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical history. They will answer questions about their symptoms. They will also have a blink test to see how severe the blepharospasm is. At this visit, participants will receive one of three types of cream. One cream will have a low dose of AH-8, one will have a higher dose of AH-8, and the other will be a placebo (no AH-8). One month later, participants will have a followup visit, with tests similar to the first visit. They will also receive more of the cream. One month later, participants will have another visit with the same tests. They will be videotaped at this visit to study their facial movements. Those who have responded to the treatment will continue to use the cream. Those who have not responded will be offered the chance to have BoNT injections, and will stop taking the cream. One month later, participants who had BoNT injections will have a final visit to check for possible side effects. Those who continued to take the cream will continue on the study. The fifth and sixth visits will involve the same tests as before. At the seventh visit, remaining participants will be offered the chance to have BoNT injections, and will stop taking the cream. The final visit will check for any side effects from the cream or the injections.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate if there is an improved response in CD symptoms when Keppra is used as adjunctive therapy to Botox.

Cervical dystonia occurring only during the writing task is a rare form for which there is no established treatment. Many authors agree that alteration of sensory integration is associated with dystonia. Similar disturbances in the integration of oculomotor information could have a role in cervical dystonia forms involving visuo-cervico-manual coordination such as handwriting. We hypothesize that orthoptic treatment by wearing prisms when writing (i) will reduce the abnormal posture of the head occurring whilst writing and remove the associated nuchal pain; (ii) the correction after a period of systematic wearing of the prisms during handwriting tasks will have a sustainable effect allowing to keep a normal head position after the suppression of the prisms.

Dystonia is a disease where muscles in the affected body part are abnormally active. This may result in abnormal postures. The underlying mechanisms are not known. One proposed mechanism is located in the motor area of the brain that controls the coordination of muscles, called the motor cortex. It is well known that the motor area of one hemisphere of the brain (motor cortex) controls the movement of the opposite side of the body. When people perform tasks such as picking up an object or writing there are mechanisms in motor cortex that focus the level of activity so that they can do these tasks with a high level of precision. Focusing activity in motor cortex seems to be disturbed in people with dystonia. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a device that allows the non-invasive stimulation of the brain. When applied to the motor cortex it can upregulate or down regulate its activity. In the present study the investigators will conduct experiments on subjects with task specific focal hand dystonia (such as writers cramp) using TMS to decrease unwanted motor activity. The investigators will assess the effects of this intervention using objective, subjective and kinematic measures. This is a pilot study and will require further research to assess the long-term effects of repetitive TMS on task-specific focal hand dystonia.

Rationale: Tardive dyskinesia and dystonia (TDD) are severe side effects of dopamine blocking agents, particularly antipsychotics. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has shown to be effective in the treatment of TDD in psychiatric patients, but only reported in case reports and small clinical trials and with little attention to possible psychiatric or cognitive complications or positive effect on psychiatric symptoms. Objective: To assess whether treatment with DBS can reduce or resolve TDD and if DBS can induce beneficial or side-effects in particular psychiatric symptoms. Study design: A delayed onset double blind randomised controlled trial. Study population: Adult patients with a current or previous psychiatric disorder and antipsychotic induced TDD with a stable psychiatric status during the past 6 months. Intervention: All patients will be treated with DBS in the posteroventrolateral GPi. The groups will be randomised into immediate stimulation or delayed stimulation after 3 months. Main study parameters/endpoints: Primary objective, improvement on the movement rating scales BFMDRS. Secondary objectives improvement on the quality of life measured on the SF-36, psychiatric stability as measured on the BPRS and the MADRS and cognitive effects as measured on the MATTIS Dementia Rating Scale, Nederlandse Leestest voor Volwassenen (NLV), 15 word test, Facial Expression of Emotion S+T (FEEST), Groninger Intelligentie Test woordopnoemen (GIT), category and letter fluency test, Trail Making Test part A and B and the Stroop colour and word test

The main objective of the trial is to study the technical feasibility of the implantation of a new electrode Monocontact deep brain stimulation electrode in dystonia.

In this study, using computerized cognitive assessments combined with multi-modal neuroimaging approach investigators aim to address three specific questions on patients with cervical and myoclonus dystonia: (i) investigate various aspects of the sense of agency and relationship to the severity of dystonia symptoms, (ii) characterize the possible link between abnormalities of movement perception and alteration of sense of agency in dystonia, (iii) (identify the neuronal underpinnings of the defective sense of agency in dystonia.

This pilot study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of once daily T2000 when used to treat patients with Myoclonus Dystonia over a 12 week period.

6 patients with jaw-closing dystonia will be treated with neuromuscular electrical stimulation over 8 weeks. The distance the mouth can be opened voluntarily and the oro-mandibular dystonia questionnaire (OMDQ-25) will be employed to determine whether there is any objective change in jaw opening or evidence of functional improvement.

This study will look into the effects of Botulinum Toxin in patients with primary cervical dystonia. The effects will be determined by neck muscle activity measurements and brain function activity measurements. The goal of the study is to try to identify markers of the effects of Botulinum toxin.