Botulinum toxin therapy in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: patient perceptions from a German cohort.
J Neural Transm (Vienna)
; 127(9): 1271-1274, 2020 09.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-688803
ABSTRACT
The SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic has provoked drastic countermeasures including shutdowns of public services. We wanted to describe the effects of a 6 week shutdown of a large German botulinum toxin (BT) outpatient clinics on patients and their well-being. 45 patients (age 61.9 ± 9.8 years, 29 females, 16 males) receiving BT therapy (319.3 ± 201.9MU-equivalent, treatment duration 8.3 ± 5.5 years) were surveyed with a standardised questionnaire. The shutdown delayed BT therapy by 6.6 ± 2.3 weeks. 93% of the patients noticed increased muscle cramps and 82% increased pain reducing their quality of life by 40.2 ± 19.5%. For 23 patients with cervical dystonia this reduction was 41.1 ± 18.3%, for 3 patients with blepharospasm 33.3 ± 15.3%, for 9 patients with spasticity 37.8 ± 15.6%, for 4 patients with pain conditions 37.4 ± 35.7% and for 3 patients with hemifacial spasm 27.5 ± 17.1%. After the shutdown 66% of patients perceived BT therapy as more important than before, 32% perceived it as unchanged. For all patients long-term availability of BT therapy was very important or important. 98% of the patients perceived the shutdown as inadequate and felt their patient rights not respected. The shutdown confirmed the considerable burden of disease caused by dystonia, spasticity, hemifacial spasm and various pain conditions and the importance of BT therapy to treat them. Any shutdown severely affects these patients and needs to be avoided.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Patient Satisfaction
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Botulinum Toxins, Type A
/
Pandemics
/
Ambulatory Care Facilities
/
Betacoronavirus
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
J Neural Transm (Vienna)
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S00702-020-02235-6
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