A centre of excellence for treatment of dystonia and spasticity movement disorders was launched at SRM Institutes for Medical Science hospital on Thursday.
Termed BONDS (Botulinum ToxiN in Dystonia and Spasticity) the centre will treat movement disorders using botulinum toxin injection.
Health minister C. Vijaya Baskar inaugurated the centre. Chairman of SRM group Ravi Pachamuthu said, “With such fine clinical talents and resources available in-house, we at SIMS will continue to deliver high rates of successful clinical treatments for our patients.”
Director of Neurology department U. Meenakshisundaram said botulinum toxin injection is administered as an outpatient procedure and the treatment spans from three to six months with minimal side effects.
Botulinum toxin is produced by the bacteria clostridium botulinum, whose ingestion could lead to a disease called botulism in which muscles are paralysed.
Dystonias are a group of disorders which cause abnormal posturing or movements of a body parts because some muscle groups go into abnormal, asynchronous contraction. They cause significant disability and discomfort to the sufferers and are in general not very responsive to treatment with oral medications. A common type is the task-specific dystonia where it occurs only with specific tasks such as writing (writer’s cramps), playing musical instruments (such as piano, guitar, mridangam etc.) playing golf or billiards, or counting currency notes.
Spasticity is abnormal stiffness that happens in diseases of the brain and/or spinal cord. The stiffness can be pronounced and cause considerable difficulty in daily activities. It can happen in children due to cerebral palsy and other disorders. Post-stroke spasticity is common with paralysed limbs becoming stiff over time and cause impediments to further recovery.
