Article

OBJECTIVE: To determine if botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) combined with therapy
can facilitate improved upper-extremity (UE) functional status versus therapy
alone. DESIGN: Double-blind randomized crossover trial. SETTING: Tertiary care
outpatient rehabilitation center. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 21 men and
women (ages 19-80 y) with stroke more than 6 months after insult who had tone
greater than 3 on the Ashworth Scale for 2 joints in the involved UE.
INTERVENTION: Subjects were consecutively recruited and randomized to a
double-blind crossover trial. Subjects received either BTX-A combined with a
defined therapy program or placebo injection combined with a therapy program in
two 12-week sessions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary functional outcome
measure was the Motor Activity Log (MAL). Subjects were also assessed on
physiologic measures including tone (Ashworth Scale), range of motion, and motor
strength. RESULTS: Improvements were noted in the functional status of the
subjects in both arms of the study as measured by the MAL. All subjects had a
significant change in functional status on MAL with therapy (P<.05). The use of
BTX-A combined with therapy as compared with therapy only improved the functional
status of the subjects on the MAL Quality of Movement subscale (P=.0180, t test)
and showed a trend toward significance in the Amount of Use subscale (P=.0605,
analysis of variance). Six weeks after treatment, the BTX-A combined with therapy
decreased the Ashworth score statistically (P=.0271), but the therapy alone group
decreased a similar amount at 6 weeks (P=.0117), indicating that most of the
physiologic tone change could be attributed to therapy. After each 12-week
period, tone had largely returned to baseline (P>.05). CONCLUSION: A focused
therapy program showed the most improvement in function in this defined stroke
population. BTX-A combined with a focused traditional therapy program slightly
enhanced the functional status of stroke subjects beyond that obtained with
therapy alone 12 weeks after injection.

Langue : ANGLAIS