Journal
LANCET NEUROLOGY
Volume 10, Issue 2, Pages 148-161Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/S1474-4422(10)70322-7
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Orion
- Lundbeck
- Teva
- German Research Council [SFB 855]
- German Ministry of Education and Health
- Medtronic
- Boehringer
- UCB
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Pfizer
- Kiwanis International Spastic Research Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Essential tremor is a common movement disorder. Tremor severity and handicap vary widely, but most patients with essential tremor do not receive a diagnosis and hence are never treated. Furthermore, many patients abandon treatment because of side-effects or poor efficacy. A newly developed algorithm, based on the logarithmic relation between tremor amplitude and clinical tremor ratings, can be used to compare the magnitude of effect of available treatments. Drugs with established efficacy (propranolol and primidone) produce a mean tremor reduction of about 50%. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the thalamic nucleus ventrointermedius or neighbouring subthalamic structures reduces tremor by about 90%. However, no controlled trials of DBS have been done, and the best target is still uncertain. Better drugs are needed, and controlled trials are required to determine the safety and efficacy of DBS in the nucleus ventrointermedius and neighbouring subthalamic structures.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available