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Home > Health >

Botox injections prove useful for hand spasticity after stroke

Researchers are offering new hope for stroke patients suffering from spasticity of the hand with a drug that has proven effective in relieving muscle tightness or twitching in other areas of the body, according to an article in the Aug. 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Allison Brashear of the IU School of Medicine, principal investigator and first author of the article, said the report indicates that an injection of botulinum toxic type A, also known as Botox, reduces disability caused by spasticity of the wrist and finger muscles in patients who have had a stroke. This is the first placebo-controlled, multi-center trial to assess the benefit of one-time injections. Nineteen medical institutions were involved over the two-year period of the study. Significant improvement in wrist and finger flexors was observed in the majority of patients one week after the injection.
http://www.medicine.indiana.edu/news_releases/archive_02/botox.html

 
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Publication date: August 23, 2002
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