Oxaliplatin is first-line chemotherapy for colorectal cancer, but produces dose-limiting neurotoxicity. Acute neurotoxicity following infusion produces symptoms including cold-triggered fasciculations and cramps, with subsequent chronic neuropathy developing at higher cumulative doses. Axonal excitability studies were undertaken in 15 oxaliplatin-treated patients before and immediately after ox...

This study was undertaken to compare the excitability changes of sensory and motor axons during hyperventilation and ischaemia, and to determine why ectopic impulse activity develops more readily during hyperventilation, and in sensory fibres. During hyperventilation for 20 min, all six subjects reported paraesthesiae in the hand and face, and four out of the six developed muscle twitching and ...

OBJECTIVES To identify the clinical, electrophysiological, histological, and genetic characteristics of a Japanese family with a muscle cramp syndrome. METHODS Fourteen patients (eight men, six women) were studied in four generations of a single family. Electrophysiological examinations were performed in four cases and muscle and nerve biopsies were performed on the propositus. RESULTS The ...

Background Muscle cramps affect approximately 1 in 3 people in the general community each year. Many interventions are available for lower limb cramps, but not all are efficacious or supported by evidence. Many treatments are controversial, no treatment guidelines exist, and many people experience no benefit from the interventions prescribed. In clinical trials, no drug treatment for cramps has...

In 1911, Oppenheim coined the term ‘dystonia’ to describe disordered motor control, characterised by an association of hypotonia and tonic muscle spasm. Focal hand dystonia is one form of this disorder, in which symptoms are often task-specific and occur during skilled movements such as writing (writer’s cramp) or playing a musical instrument (musician’s cramp). Much research has been conducted...

Dystonia have many subtypes, and is classified as focal, segmental and generalized. As for focal dystonia, spasmodic torticollis (cervical dystonia) and writer's cramp are most common. Cervical dystonia is mainly treated effectively with selective peripheral denervation, and task specific focal dystonia of the hand (writer's cramp) is effectively alleviated by stereotactic ventro-oral thalamoto...