Cervical dystonia: factors deteriorating patient satisfaction of long-term treatment with botulinum toxin

Botulinum toxin (BoNT) is an effective first-line treatment for cervical dystonia (CD). Despite generally good therapeutic efficacy, approximately 20-40% of CD patients do not achieve acceptable relief of the dystonic symptoms. The aim of this study was to identify factors of low patient satisfaction of long-term BoNT therapy for CD.

In this case-control study CD patients treated with BoNT intramuscular injections for up to 24 years were assessed by two independent assessors in three validated scales: TWSTRS, Tsui and VAS for pain measurement. Data on received BoNT doses and treatment duration were obtained from medical history. All of participants rated their long-term treatment satisfaction compared to the therapy onset on a 0-3 scale.

Study was completed by 58 participants who were treated with BoNT for 9.0 ± 6.3 years and received a median of 19 injection cycles. None/low therapy satisfaction was reported by 20.7% of participants. Compared to moderate/good treatment satisfaction, CD patients with none/low BoNT efficacy had increased incidence of cervical pain (p =.018), enhanced mean VAS score for pain (p =.037) and had higher coexistence of oromandibular dystonia (p =.018). In addition, worse treatment satisfaction correlated with shorter time intervals between treatment cycles, enhanced scores of Tsui total, TWSTRS total, as well as TWSTRS subscales: severity, disability and pain.

Cervical pain and coexistence of oromandibular dystonia deteriorated long-term treatment satisfaction in CD patients. Higher scores of Tsui and TWSTRS subscales were correlated with worse subjective BoNT treatment response.