[Levodopa treatment of a case of torsion spasm with athetosis]

The result about Levodopa treatment in torsion dystonia and athetosis are quite contradictory. We report an interesting case, significant for the results that we obtained in a long treatment period. A girl was suffering from age of 8 years of torsion dystonia associated with athetosis. We made our first clinical examination when 12 years old: she was not able to stand-up and to walking, neither was she able to be sitting in a chair without arms. In two months of treatment with Levodopa 3.000 mg. by day, the symptoms completely disappeared. During the first two years of treatment, at every effort to decrease the therapy we observed an important increase of symptoms. Successively it was possible to decrease the therapy and now, after 8 years of treatment, with a minimal dose, the girl doesn't show any symptoms, so that she can manage a normal relative life. Probably these good results depend on the fact that was a sporadic recessive form of torsion dystonia case.