Botox for Cervical Dystonia Following EMG Mapping

Pre-injection, Multi-channel EMG Mapping to Optimize Botulinum Toxin Type A Efficacy in Cervical Dystonia.

The purpose of this study is to determine how to improve treatment of patients with cervical dystonia who have not been helped with standard Botox injections. This study is for patients with cervical dystonia who have not benefited from treatment with Botox using conventional "single lead electromyographic (EMG) techniques" for injection. The study aim is to see if these patients may have significantly more benefit if their Botox is injected into muscles that have been chosen with a multi-channel EMG mapping study of the neck prior to Botox injection.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cervical Dystonia
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Botulinum toxin A

Detailed Description

The most common type of primary late-onset dystonia is cervical dystonia. Botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) injections are a safe and effective treatment for cervical dystonia in a majority of patients, however, a significant minority of patients (between 15 and 25%) have a suboptimal response to Botulinum toxin therapy. It is unclear why some patients do not respond maximally to neurotoxin therapy.

Studies using needle electromyographic "mapping" in the evaluation of cervical dystonia have revealed that clinical examination alone is insufficient for determining which muscles contribute to the dystonic movement. When compared to needle electromyography (EMG) "mapping studies", experienced movement disorders specialists correctly identify only 59% of active muscles and believe that 25% of muscles which upon EMG evaluation are found to be quiescent, are involved in the dystonia. The selection of incorrect muscles for injection of Botulinum toxin may explain why some patients have a sub-optimal response.

This study seeks to measure outcomes when the muscles involved in dystonia are identified using "mapping" via an 8-12 channel EMG. In the proposed study, the most involved/active dystonic muscles will be correctly identified through simultaneous 8-12 channel mapping resulting in a more informed injection strategy, which may improve response to Botulinum toxin A treatment as compared to single lead EMG based injections. This study changes routine clinical care only by adding the step of studying the muscles of the neck with simultaneous EMG mapping to allow a more objective injection strategy.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 10
• Phase: Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Francisco, California, United States, 94143
      • University of California, San Francisco

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 75 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion criteria:

• Male or female subjects, 18 to 75 years of age.
• Ability to follow study instructions and complete all required visits.
• Subject meets diagnostic criteria for idiopathic primary cervical dystonia.
• Subject has at least moderate severity Cervical Dystonia, with a baseline rating of at least 30 on the total TWSTRS and at least 15 on the TWSTRS motor severity subsection.
• Patients have had a suboptimal response to 2 previous Botulinum toxin injections at an outside facility.
• Patients will not have received Botulinum toxin within 16 weeks of the start of the study.
• In order to not confound the clinical response to BTX-A injections, all patients enrolled must have been on a stable medication regimen for 30 days. If they are not on medication at the initiation of the study, they will not be started on medication. Patients must be on the same medication regimen through the entire study including assessment of both single lead EMG based injections and "mapping" based injections. Medications cannot be stopped during the study to avoid confounding the clinical response to BTX-A.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Known allergy or sensitivity to any of the components in BTX-A.
• Uncontrolled clinically significant medical condition other than the condition under evaluation
• Females with a positive pregnancy test, or who are breast-feeding, planning a pregnancy during the study, who think that they may be pregnant at the start of the study or females of childbearing potential who are unable or unwilling to use a reliable form of contraception during the study.
• Participation in another medication or device study or within 3 months of enrollment in this study.
• Patients know to have a positive frontalis test or have previously tested positive for the presence of BTX-A antibodies will be excluded.
• Any known evidence of cervical contractures or significant spinal deformity.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: CROSSOVER
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: standard EMG-guided Botox injection; All patients will undergo injection using conventional single channel EMG-guided technique. This will be used as a baseline for multi-channel mapping-based injections. Patients will be randomized to undergo single-channel vs. multi-channel assessment upon study entry and will then cross over to the alternate arm.	Drug: Botulinum toxin A; All patients will be treated with Botox using both single-channel and multi-channel EMG mapping.; Other Names: Botox
EXPERIMENTAL: Multi-channel EMG-guided Botox injection; Patients will receive multi-channel EMG-guided Botox injection before or after they have been treated with single-channel EMG-guided Botox, depending on which group they are assigned in the cross-over design.	Drug: Botulinum toxin A; All patients will be treated with Botox using both single-channel and multi-channel EMG mapping.; Other Names: Botox

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Pre- and Post-injection Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale(TWSTRS): Global Clinical Impression Scale (GCI); Visual Analog Scale(VAS)		pre-injection, week 16, 20, 36, and 40
Mean Percentage Change in Total Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale	Mean Percentage change in Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale. This scale ranges from 0 (normal) to 85 (very severe).	baseline and 48 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco
• Collaborators: Allergan
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Graham A. Glass, M.D., University of California, San Francisco

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: April 1, 2008
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): October 1, 2010
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): January 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 14, 2008
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 15, 2008
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): October 16, 2008

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): March 23, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 6, 2020
• Last Verified: March 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: dystonia; Botox; cervical dystonia; idiopathic primary cervical dystonia
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Movement Disorders; Dyskinesias; Dystonia; Dystonic Disorders; Torticollis; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Neurotransmitter Agents; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Peripheral Nervous System Agents; Cholinergic Agents; Membrane Transport Modulators; Acetylcholine Release Inhibitors; Neuromuscular Agents; Botulinum Toxins; Botulinum Toxins, Type A; abobotulinumtoxinA
• Other Study ID Numbers: Allergan cervical dystonia