Treatment of sialorrhea in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
BACKGROUND
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating progressive disease of all voluntary muscles. Bulbar symptoms with reduced ability to swallow occur frequently and may also be an early symptom. For some patients drooling may represent a severe social problem.


OBJECTIVE
To review the literature on treatment of sialorrhea in ALS and describe possible treatments.


METHODS
PubMed was searched combining the words amyotrophic or ALS with sialorrhea or drooling. Publications more recent than 2000 were selected.


RESULTS
A total of 31 publications were found. Of these, 22 are from 2000 or later. Thirteen of the 22 most recent publications are original papers whereas 9 are review articles. Of the original articles, four describe treatment of sialorrhea with radiotherapy, five describe effects of botolinum toxin injections into the salivary grands and two describe serious side-effects of botolinum toxin injections for sialorrhea in ALS. The remaining original articles are case descriptions or practice surveys.


CONCLUSIONS
The treatment of sialorrhea in ALS is discussed in the view of current knowledge.
Tysnes
O-B
OB
Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. obty@haukeland.no
D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D012798:Sialorrhea / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*