High-dose anticholinergic therapy for torsion dystonia

Institution:

Columbia University College Of Physicians and Surgeons

Researchers:

Robert E. Burke, MD, the Alfred and Minnie Bressler Professor of Neurology, and Stanley Fahn, MD, the H. Houston Merritt Professor of Neurology at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons

Impact:

Torsion dystonia is a movement disorder that causes sustained, twisting involuntary movements. A severe form in children causes incapacitating, generalized muscle spasms.  Before the use of high-dose trihexyphenidyl, there was no established therapy for the condition. Burke, Fahn, and colleagues led a clinical trial demonstrating that high-dosage anticholinergic therapy with trihexyphenidyl produced significant, sustained benefit for most patients. Anticholinergics remain a mainstay of treatment of this condition.

Timeline:

1986