Researchers into dystonia come from many specialty areas – neurology, pure science, biology, chemistry, genetics, psychology. Clinical studies are meticulously planned, and then application is made for a funding grant to do the study.
Often, very well planned applications do not get accepted though. Many areas of medicine besides dystonia also want funding and dystonia has historically not been prioritized.
When a grant is awarded, the study proceeds with clinical trials, analysis and reports. Then peer review is sought by scientists and physicians before the study is published in scientific journals and is available in medical libraries. It is a long process but that is how the ultimate answer to dystonia will be found.
The surveys on this website try to assist in the early stages of that process – the information gathering, ideas generating start.
There are many researchers interested in dystonia. It must be exciting and frustrating to try to understand this unusual condition. They hold national and international seminars sharing ideas and motivating each other to keep working to cure the so-far incurable. I like the conference theme topics of “Muscles behaving badly” or “Love your neuron.” These are great people and I want to help them succeed.
Meanwhile here is a list of current clinical studies about dystonia I have found online, sorted by whether researchers are currently recruiting patient input. For further information see clinicaltrials.org.
If any researchers would like to mention their current studies on this list, please contact bevgsmith@gmail.com.
(June 2020)
Recruiting
- Exercise training in dystonia
- Incobotulinum toxin A for focal task specific dystonia of musician’s hand
- Effect of increasing motorcortex inhibition on task specific dystonia
- Neuromuscular electrical stimulation for jaw-closing dystonia
- Registry of Deep Brain Stimulation with the Vercise TM System
- Incobotulinumtoxin to treat focal hand dystonia
- Long term safety of repeat treatments of Daxibotulinumtoxin A – cervical dystonia
- Targeting methods of botulinum toxin injections for cervical dystonia
- Abobotulinum toxin and neubotulinum toxin- cervical dystonia
- Assessment of brain activities in cervical dystonia
- Clinical and kinematic assessment- Botox R injection parameters – cervical dystonia
- Deep Brain Stimulation surgery for focal hand dystonia
- TMS and Botulinum toxin in primary cervical dystonia
- Transcranial electrical stimulation for cervical dystonia
- Motor network in Parkinson’s disease and dystonia- mechanisms of therapy
- Pathophysiology of dystonia and complex regional pain syndrome
- Propensity to develop plasticity in the parieto-motor networks
- Dystonia Genotype-phenotype correlation
- Cholinergic Recept imaging
- Osteopathic Manual treatment Parkinson’s Disease and Truncal Dystonia
- Two guidance techniques for botulinum toxin injections- focal dystonia
- Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for Dystonia and Tremor
- Deep Brain Stimulation- WILSTIM – DBS
- Analysis of Gait before and after botulinum toxin treatment -focal dystonia
- Finger individuation training – writer’s cramp
- Effect of the visual information change in functional dystonia
- Validation of the zigzag tracking task test – handwriting and writer’s cramp
- Clinical outcomes for deep brain stimulation
- Deep brain stimulation – retrospective outcomes study
- Clinical and psychological studies of tremor syndromes
- Effectiveness and reliability of hypnosis in sterotaxy
- Deep brain stimulation surgery for movement disorders
- Movement disorders and early maladaptive schemas
- Sensory gaiting measured with microelectrode recording during DBS
- Spine MRI in patients with deep brain stimulation
- Database of clinical data for patients with variants in IRF2BPL gene
- MRI study of infinity DBS system
- Physiological brain atlas development
- Abbott DBS registry of outcomes for indications over time
- Using wearable and mobile data to diagnose and monitor movement disorders
- Genetic characterization of movement disorders
- Laryngeal vibration for spasmodic dysphonia
- Sodium oxybate in spasmodic dysphonia and voice tremor
- Imaging genetics of spasmodic dysphonia
Not yet recruiting
- Tele-yoga and dystonia
- Interactions between striatum and cerebellum in ADCY5 and PRRT2 dystonias
- Trial of non-invasive stimulation in cervical dystonia
- Open-label study to define safety, tolerability of Deutetrabenzaine (Austedo)
- Conversion to Dysport in Cervical dystonia patients
- Clinical trial to compare Botux R verus Botox R – cervical dystonia
- Botulinum toxin Type A for focal Dystonia associated with pain in Parkinson’s Disease
- Imaging neuromelanin and iron in Dystonia/ Parkinsonism
- Using DBS to probe basal ganglia dysfunction
- Cortical basal ganglia speech networks
- Physiology, imaging and modeling of essential tremor
- Quantifying muscle tone in patients with brain injury
- Stereotactic frame system for neurosurgery
- Brain network activation in patients with movement disorders
Lived Experience With Dystonia 