Patient Preference in Botulinum Toxin for Writer’s Cramp

Weighing benefits versus side effects, patients preferred to continue active treatment more often than placebo treatment.

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was designed to determine the efficacy of botulinum toxin for the treatment of writer’s cramp. The primary endpoint was whether or not the patients chose to continue with treatment. Botulinum toxin was provided by the manufacturer.

After one treatment or two treatments 1 month apart (depending on patient satisfaction with the first treatment), a statistically significant number of the 20 patients who received botulinum toxin (70%) reported improvement in symptoms at 12 weeks post-treatment and chose to continue treatment, compared with only 32% of the 19 placebo recipients. There were two types of treatment-related adverse events: hand weakness (reported by 18 botulinum toxin recipients…

Reviewing Author

Nutan Sharma, MD, PhD