Writer's cramp is focal dystonia, occurring during writing. Its prevalence is very low in the general population and this pathology therefore considered a rare disease. Its diagnosis is clinical but treatment is still a problem in developing countries because botulinum toxin is not yet available. There is little data in sub-Saharan Africa on writer's cramp. We report a series of 5 cases observed at the Yaoundé General Hospital (Cameroon). Methods: We carried out descriptive and prospective work, in which we collected clinical, paraclinical, therapeutic and evolutionary data from patients who came for outpatient consultations for the writer's cramp during 2020 at the Yaoundé General Hospital. Results: The prevalence of this pathology in neurology consultation was 0.29%. These were three women and two men, with an average age of 32.8 years. All had non-contributory personal and family backgrounds. They all received a drug treatment based on trihexyphenidyle, muscle relaxants, anxiolytics, associated with physiotherapy. Baclofen was started in the event of failure on trihexyphenidyl, only one patient received botulinum toxin. The outcome was favorable in a single patient, two-thirds of the patients learned to write with the opposite hand. Conclusion: Writer's cramp is an infrequent condition, very often underdiagnosed. It has a real impact on the quality of life because care is difficult, particularly in our context.
| Published in | American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience (Volume 9, Issue 3) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11 |
| Page(s) | 86-89 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Writer’s Cramp, Dystonia, Yaoundé
| [1] | Jennifer G Goldman. Writer's cramp. 2015; 107: 98-104. |
| [2] | Pearce, J. "A note on scrivener's palsy." J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2005 April; 76 (4): 513. |
| [3] | Esde. A prevalence study of primary dystonia in eight European countries. J Neurol. 2000; 247: 787-792. |
| [4] | Bhidayasiri R, Jen JC, Baloh RW. Three brothers with a very-late-onset writer's cramp. Mov Disord. 2005 Oct; 20 (10): 1375-7. |
| [5] | Shavlovskaia OA, Orlova OR, Golubev VL, Veĭn AM. Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. Clinical and physiological analysis and treatment of writer's cramp 2002; 102 (10): 35-41. |
| [6] | Jhunjhunwala K, Lenka A, Pal PK. A Clinical Profile of 125 Patients with Writer's Cramp. Eur Neurol. 2015; 73 (5-6): 316-20. |
| [7] | Snaith A, Wade D. Dystonia. BMJ Clin Evid. 2011; 2011: 1211. |
| [8] | Taira T, Harashima S, Hori T. Neurosurgical treatment for writer's cramp. Acta Neurochir Suppl. 2003; 87: 129-31. |
| [9] | Batla A. Dystonia: A review. Neurol India. 2018; 66 (Supplement): S48-S58. |
| [10] | Jee Hyun Ham, Sang Jin Kim, Sook Keun Song, Chul Hyoung Lyoo, Phil Hyu Lee, Young Ho Sohn, Suk Yun Kang. A prognostic factor in focal hand dystonia: typist's cramp cases and literature review. J Neurol Sci 2016; 371: 85-87. |
| [11] | Siokas V, Aloizou AM, Tsouris Z, Michalopoulou A, Mentis AA, Dardiotis E. Risk Factor Genes in Patients with Dystonia: A Comprehensive Review. Tremor Other Hyperkinet Mov (N Y). 2019; 8: 559. |
| [12] | Rosenkranz K, Williamon A, Butler K, Cordivari C, Lees AJ, Rothwell JC. Pathophysiological differences between musician's dystonia and writer's cramp. Brain. 2005 Apr; 128 (Pt 4): 918-31. |
| [13] | Stahl CM, Frucht SJ. Focal task specific dystonia: a review and update. J Neurol. 2017; 264 (7): 1536-1541. |
| [14] | Roze E, Soumare A, Pironneau I, Sangla S, de Cock VC, Teixeira A, Astorquiza A, Bonnet C, Bleton JP, Vidailhet M, Elbaz A. Case-control study of writer's cramp. Brain. 2009; 132: 756-764. |
| [15] | Frei K. J Neurol Sci. Posttraumatic dystonia. 2017; 379: 183-191. |
| [16] | Balint B, Mencacci NE, Valente EM, Pisani A, Rothwell J, Jankovic J, Vidailhet M, Bhatia KP. Dystonia. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2018 Sep 20; 4 (1): 25. |
| [17] | Tomić A, Agosta F, Sarasso E, Svetel M, Kresojević N, Fontana A, Canu E, Petrović I, Kostić VS, Filippi M. Brain Structural Changes in Focal Dystonia-What About Task Specificity? A Multimodal MRI Study. Mov Disord. 2021 Jan; 36 (1): 196-205. |
| [18] | Jankovic J. Treatment of dystonia. Lancet neurology. 2006; 5: 864-872. |
| [19] | Bleton JP, Vidailhet M, Bourdain F, Ducorps A, Schwartz D, Delmaire C, Lehericy S, Renault B, Garnero L, Meunier S. Somatosensory cortical remodelling after rehabilitation and clinical benefit of in writer's cramp. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2011; 82: 574-577. |
| [20] | Park JE, Shamim EA, Panyakaew P, Mathew P, Toro C, Sackett J, Karp B, Lungu C, Alter K, Wu T, Ahmad OF, Villegas M, Auh S, Hallett M. Botulinum toxin and occupational therapy for Writer's cramp. Toxicon. 2019 Nov; 169: 12-17. |
APA Style
Mbonda Paul-Cedric, Gams Massi Daniel, Noutsa Laura, Fogang Yannick, Djientcheu Vincent De Paul. (2021). Writer's Cramp in Yaoundé (Cameroon): Series of 5 Cases. American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 9(3), 86-89. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11
ACS Style
Mbonda Paul-Cedric; Gams Massi Daniel; Noutsa Laura; Fogang Yannick; Djientcheu Vincent De Paul. Writer's Cramp in Yaoundé (Cameroon): Series of 5 Cases. Am. J. Psychiatry Neurosci. 2021, 9(3), 86-89. doi: 10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11
AMA Style
Mbonda Paul-Cedric, Gams Massi Daniel, Noutsa Laura, Fogang Yannick, Djientcheu Vincent De Paul. Writer's Cramp in Yaoundé (Cameroon): Series of 5 Cases. Am J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2021;9(3):86-89. doi: 10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11,
author = {Mbonda Paul-Cedric and Gams Massi Daniel and Noutsa Laura and Fogang Yannick and Djientcheu Vincent De Paul},
title = {Writer's Cramp in Yaoundé (Cameroon): Series of 5 Cases},
journal = {American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience},
volume = {9},
number = {3},
pages = {86-89},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajpn.20210903.11},
abstract = {Writer's cramp is focal dystonia, occurring during writing. Its prevalence is very low in the general population and this pathology therefore considered a rare disease. Its diagnosis is clinical but treatment is still a problem in developing countries because botulinum toxin is not yet available. There is little data in sub-Saharan Africa on writer's cramp. We report a series of 5 cases observed at the Yaoundé General Hospital (Cameroon). Methods: We carried out descriptive and prospective work, in which we collected clinical, paraclinical, therapeutic and evolutionary data from patients who came for outpatient consultations for the writer's cramp during 2020 at the Yaoundé General Hospital. Results: The prevalence of this pathology in neurology consultation was 0.29%. These were three women and two men, with an average age of 32.8 years. All had non-contributory personal and family backgrounds. They all received a drug treatment based on trihexyphenidyle, muscle relaxants, anxiolytics, associated with physiotherapy. Baclofen was started in the event of failure on trihexyphenidyl, only one patient received botulinum toxin. The outcome was favorable in a single patient, two-thirds of the patients learned to write with the opposite hand. Conclusion: Writer's cramp is an infrequent condition, very often underdiagnosed. It has a real impact on the quality of life because care is difficult, particularly in our context.},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Writer's Cramp in Yaoundé (Cameroon): Series of 5 Cases AU - Mbonda Paul-Cedric AU - Gams Massi Daniel AU - Noutsa Laura AU - Fogang Yannick AU - Djientcheu Vincent De Paul Y1 - 2021/07/19 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11 DO - 10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11 T2 - American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience JF - American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience JO - American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience SP - 86 EP - 89 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-426X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajpn.20210903.11 AB - Writer's cramp is focal dystonia, occurring during writing. Its prevalence is very low in the general population and this pathology therefore considered a rare disease. Its diagnosis is clinical but treatment is still a problem in developing countries because botulinum toxin is not yet available. There is little data in sub-Saharan Africa on writer's cramp. We report a series of 5 cases observed at the Yaoundé General Hospital (Cameroon). Methods: We carried out descriptive and prospective work, in which we collected clinical, paraclinical, therapeutic and evolutionary data from patients who came for outpatient consultations for the writer's cramp during 2020 at the Yaoundé General Hospital. Results: The prevalence of this pathology in neurology consultation was 0.29%. These were three women and two men, with an average age of 32.8 years. All had non-contributory personal and family backgrounds. They all received a drug treatment based on trihexyphenidyle, muscle relaxants, anxiolytics, associated with physiotherapy. Baclofen was started in the event of failure on trihexyphenidyl, only one patient received botulinum toxin. The outcome was favorable in a single patient, two-thirds of the patients learned to write with the opposite hand. Conclusion: Writer's cramp is an infrequent condition, very often underdiagnosed. It has a real impact on the quality of life because care is difficult, particularly in our context. VL - 9 IS - 3 ER -
Information
Email: