|
© 1986 American Academy of Neurology Spontaneous remissions in spasmodic torticollisDystonia Clinical Research Center, Department of Neurology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, and the Neurological Institute, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY. We reviewed the frequency of spontaneous remissions in spasmodic torticollis (ST). One hundred sixteen patients with idiopathic ST (72 F, 44 M) were examined. The age at onset ranged from 9 to 69 (mean, 38.1 ± 1.3). Twenty-one patients (18%) were Jewish. Eleven patients (9%) had a history of familial dystonia. Remissions longer than 1 year unrelated to treatment were observed in 14 patients (12%) (9 F, 5 M). They occurred in the first year of ST in 13 patients (93%) and in the eighth year in 1. Duration of remissions ranged from 1 to 20 years (mean, 6.5 ± 1.6). Two patients had three remissions, and another had two. The mean age at the onset of ST in patients with remission was 26.4 ± 3.3 (SEM) and ranged from 9 to 49. The age at the onset in the patients without remissions was 39.7 ± 1.4, ranging from 10 to 69 (p < 0.01). In the remission group, 3 patients were Jewish (21%); in the non-remission group, 18 (18%) were Jewish. There was a familial history in 1 case with remission (7%) and in 10 cases (10%) without remission. Spontaneous remissions in the course of ST seem to be more frequent in patients with early onset, and they occur usually during the first year. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Fahn, 710 W. 168th Street, New York, NY 10032. Dr. Friedman is an Engl Fellow of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. The Dystonia Clinical Research Center is supported by the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation. Accepted for publication July 26, 1986.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
