The clinical course of spasmodic torticollis.
Among 24 of 36 patients with idiopathic spasmodic torticollis referred to one of us over a 10-year period, who were followed up for more than 1 year, we defined three outcome groups. Three patients (13%) underwent complete or almost complete remission at a median of 3.0 years into the illness. Eight patients (33%) had partial remissions, which tended to occur somewhat later than the first group. The remaining 13 patients had no significant improvement in their disease; they were more likely to be older at the onset of the illness, develop constant rather than intermittent neck deviation, and have a "geste antagonistique." As a whole, the study population was exposed to a wide variety of therapeutic interventions that had little, if any, obvious clinical effect.
Lowenstein
D H
DH
Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco 94143.
Aminoff
M J
MJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013035:Spasm / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D014103:Torticollis / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology