OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a chronic condition, characterized by recurrent episodes of upper airway collapse during sleep, which affects up to 5% of adults in the Western population. The muscle tone of the human body ordinarily relaxes during sleep, thus causing airway obstruction and leading to sleep apnea. We report a case of a 68-years old male in which ...

UNLABELLED Dystonias are organic central motor processing disorders characterized by involuntary muscular contractions or incontrollable spasms induced by task-specific movements. Adduction laryngeal dystonias present with important speech impairments, with inappropriate spasms and abrupt voice breaks. The diagnosis is based on clinical features, evaluation by a speech therapist and transnasal ...

Aberrant sensory processing plays a fundamental role in the pathophysiology of dystonia; however, its underpinning neural mechanisms in relation to dystonia phenotype and genotype remain unclear. We examined temporal and spatial discrimination thresholds in patients with isolated laryngeal form of dystonia (LD), who exhibited different clinical phenotypes (adductor vs. abductor forms) and poten...

OBJECTIVES Since the middle of the 20th century, most discussions of spasmodic dysphonia (SD) reference a paper by Ludwig Traube published in1871 as the first historical citation, crediting him with priority for this clinical syndrome. However, our recent research has determined that the original observation by Traube was published in 1864 and does not in fact describe what is currently recogni...

dystonia is a movement disorder that causes sustained muscle contractions, repetitive twisting movements, and abnormal postures of the trunk, neck, face, or arms and legs. inherited dystonias can be classified as primary dystonia, dystonia-plus, heredo-degenerative dystonia, and paroxysmal dyskinesias with dystonia. the primary dystonias are those with no other neurologic abnormalities. primary...

Objectives Adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) is a focal dystonia predominantly involving the laryngeal adductor muscles. AdSD is reported to be a largely non-progressive neurological disorder, though fluctuations in symptom severity do occur. Repeated laryngeal onabotulinumtoxinA (BTX-A) injections are the primary management for AdSD. A number of studies have demonstrated long-term dose stabi...

Parkinsonism as well as dystonic signs are rarely seen in central pontine myelinolysis and extrapontine myelinolysis. A 51 year old woman developed central pontine myelinolysis and extrapontine myelinolysis with parkinsonism after severe vomiting which followed alcohol and drug intake, even though marked hyponatraemia had been corrected gradually over six days. Parkinsonism resolved four months...

Objective. The effect of botulinum toxin among patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) is temporary. To optimize long-term treatment outcome, other therapy options should be evaluated. Alternative treatment options for AdSD comprise several surgical treatments, such as thyroarytenoid myotomy, thyroplasty, selective laryngeal adductor denervationreinnervation, laryngeal nerve crush, an...

During the past decade, botulinum toxin (Botox) has emerged as the accepted treatment for adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ASD). This therapy, which produces bilateral weakness of the thyroarytenoid muscle, undoubtedly produces physiologic effects that are beneficial to patients with ASD. However, it also has important limitations, including the need for repeated injections, the unpredictable rela...