To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: MDS: Blepharospasm Linked to Development of Parkinson's Symptoms URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/22328A.htm Doctor's Guide November 15, 2002
By Bruce Sylvester Special to DG News MIAMI, FL -- November 15,2002 -- Patients with idiopathic blepharospasm, either isolated or associated with oromandibular dystonia, are more likely to develop parkinsonian symptoms, researchers report. "What we have verified here is that idiopathic blepharospasm may be sign of the eventual development of Parkinson's disease," Emilia Gatto, M.D., presenter, lead researcher and professor of medicine at University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine, Buenos Aires, Argentina, told Doctor's Guide. The research was presented November 15 at the Movement Disorders Society's (MDS) 7th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Prior research suggests that a lesion in the substantia nigra might lead to blepharospasm in predisposed patients. If this were the case, some of these patients would eventually develop parkinsonian symptoms. Investigators studied 105 outpatient subjects diagnosed with idiopathic blepharospasm (54) or blepharospasm and additional oromandibular dystonia a.k.a Meige's syndrome (51). There were 86 women and 19 men, and the mean age of the subjects at enrollment was 70.3 years. The researchers compared the patients to an age- and sex-matched control group. The average period of investigative follow-up was five years. The investigators reported that 11 of the 105 patients (11.53 percent) developed parkinsonian symptoms. Only two of the 105 (1.92 percent) in the matched control group developed such symptoms. "Curiously, all affected cases had Parkinson's disease and not other forms of parkinsonism," the investigators noted. "We are alerted by this research to look at patients with idiopathic blepharospasm as pre-parkinsonian and to monitor them and their treatment as such," Dr. Gatto added. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.