Safety and Long-term Efficacy of Ventro-oral Thalamotomy for Focal Hand Dystonia: A Retrospective Study of 171 Patients

Objective: To report the safety and long-term efficacy of ventro-oral thalamotomy for 171 consecutive patients with task-specific focal hand dystonia.

Methods: Between October 2003 and February 2017, 171 consecutive patients with task-specific focal hand dystonia underwent unilateral ventro-oral thalamotomy. Etiologies included writer's cramps (n = 92), musician's dystonias (n = 58), and other occupational task-related dystonias (n = 21). The task-specific focal hand dystonia scale was used to evaluate patients' neurologic conditions (range 1-5, high score indicated a better condition). The scores before surgery; at 1 week, 3 months, and 12 months postoperatively; and the last available follow-up period were determined. Postoperative complications and postoperative recurrence were also evaluated.

Results: The scores before surgery; at 1 week (1.72 ± 0.57, 4.33 ± 0.85 [ < 0.001]), 3 months (4.30 ± 1.06 [ < 0.001]), and 12 months (4.30 ± 1.13 [ < 0.001]); and the last available follow-up (4.39 ± 1.07 [ < 0.001]) postoperatively improved. The mean clinical follow-up period was 25.4 ± 32.1 months (range: 3-165). Permanent adverse events developed in 6 patients (3.5%). Eighteen patients developed recurrent dystonic symptoms postoperatively. Of these 18 patients, 9 underwent ventro-oral thalamotomy again, of which 7 achieved improvement.

Conclusion: Ventro-oral thalamotomy is a feasible and reasonable treatment for patients with refractory task-specific focal hand dystonias. Prospective, randomized, and blinded studies are warranted to clarify more accurate assessment of the safety and efficacy of ventro-oral thalamotomy for task-specific focal hand dystonia.

Classification Of Evidence: This study provides Class IV evidence that for patients with task-specific focal hand dystonia, ventro-oral thalamotomy improves dystonia.