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Case Reports
. 2019 Mar 8:6:1.
doi: 10.1186/s40734-019-0076-z. eCollection 2019.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy for focal leg dystonia: a case report

Kush Sharma  1 , Alberto Cucca  1 , Andrea Lee  1   2 , Shashank Agarwal  1   3 , Steven Joel Frucht  1 , Milton Cesar Biagioni  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy for focal leg dystonia: a case report

Kush Sharma et al. J Clin Mov Disord. .

Abstract

Background: Dystonia is a debilitating disease that causes abnormal, often repetitive, movements, postures or both. The pathophysiology is unknown but related to loss of neuronal inhibition, aberrant sensorimotor integration, and/or derangements of synaptic plasticity. Current treatments include pharmacotherapy, botulinum toxin injections and deep brain stimulation (DBS). The response to these treatments are often limited and carry the risk of side effects requiring alternative therapies such as non-invasive brain stimulation.

Case presentation: We present a case report of a 65-year -old man with refractory focal 'task-specific' dystonia. The treatment plan included 10-daily sessions of 1 Hz, 2600 pulses of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targeting the primary motor cortex.

Conclusion: There were no clinical benefits noticed. Currently, there are no rTMS protocol treatments for dystonia. Publication of negative results will help in refining the optimal stimulation parameters, thus maximizing the effectiveness and reproducibility of future therapeutic protocols.

Keywords: Dystonia therapy; Focal dystonia; Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; Task-specific dystonia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The patient provided written consent for the TMS procedures as well as for the videotaping of the focal dystonia phenomenology.All authors reviewed and approved the final submission.The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Overview of rTMS procedures
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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