Articles related to MOVEMENT DISORDERS

It wasn’t carpal tunnel. It wasn’t just anxiety, and Ed wasn’t having a stroke. Even after a complete neurological assessment, it wasn’t “mild cognitive impairment.” For months, Ed’s life was plagued with psychiatric and movement disorders that puzzled his wife and his physicians. Read the narrative about how Ed was finally diagnosed, what happened next, and where he is now.

Of the four most commonly prescribed antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in the UK, carbamazepine wasn’t significantly associated with Parkinson’s, but three AEDs did have a significant relationship, including lamotrigine, levetiracetam, and sodium valproate.

This 10-year study is the first large, population-based assessment of spasticity treatment in MS. It reveals that younger, newly diagnosed people are prescribed baclofen more their older peers. This is the first study to show high rates of baclofen discontinuation among all patients with MS, with more than 50% of patients discontinued treatment within 6 months.

The authors in this paper wanted to determine if, on the basis of basic clinical criteria, the stiff limb syndrome can be distinguished from the stiff man syndrome and progressive encephalomyelitis with rigidity, and whether this distinction has any bearing on the condition’s origin, course of treatment, or prognosis.

In a trial randomizing 372 participants to deferiprone or placebo, nigrostriatal iron content decreased more in the deferiprone group than in the placebo group, but that didn’t correlate to a clinical benefit. Instead, 22% of those on the chelator required initiation of dopaminergic therapy versus 2.7% of those in the placebo group.

A 55-year-old woman has had slowly progressing speech distortion and problems with balance when walking. On exam, she showed signs of ataxia and chorea. Muscle tone was normal but stretch reflexes were absent. She had gaze-evoked horizontal nystagmus. Following electromyograph and MRI, and considering various conditions, her physicians proposed a diagnosis.