TY - JOUR
T1 - Dystonia management across Europe within ERN-RND
T2 - current state and future challenges
AU - Centen, Liesanne M.
AU - Pinter, David
AU - van Egmond, Martje E.
AU - Graessner, Holm
AU - Kovacs, Norbert
AU - Koy, Anne
AU - Perez-Dueñas, Belen
AU - Reinhard, Carola
AU - Tijssen, Marina A.J.
AU - Boesch, Sylvia
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. DP reported no financial disclosures. NK received < 1000 EUR consultation fees from Hungarian subsidiaries of Medtronic, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, UCB, Krka, and AbbVie. CR has received research support from the European Union (EU). ME participated in a training program sponsored by Medtronic. MAJT reported grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development ZonMW Topsubsidie (91218013), the European Fund for Regional Development from the European Union (01492947) and the province of Friesland, from Stichting Wetenschapsfonds Dystonie Vereniging, from Actelion and Merz. BPD received a grant from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Grant number PI21/00248. LMC reported grants from Merz and Stichting Wetenschapsfonds Dystonie. SB reported no financial disclosures. AK reported grants from the Dr. Rita and Dr. Hans-Günther Herfort Foundation. HG has received research support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), the Bundesministerium für Gesundheit (BMG), and the European Union (EU).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Background: Since the first European-wide evaluation of dystonia management in 2016, several efforts have been made to improve dystonia-care. One of these was the development of the Dystonia Disease Group as a part of the European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases (ERN-RND) that implemented several initiatives based on the recommendations made in 2016.Aim: To evaluate the current state of dystonia management across Europe.Methods: Twenty-four countries were surveyed via 62 dystonia-experts from 44 ERN-RND-related centers.Results: Dystonia-experts for adult patients were available in all surveyed countries. However, almost half of the countries evaluated accessibility as merely ‘satisfactory’. Access to genetic and neurophysiological testing was challenging to varying degrees in over half of countries. Main oral medications and botulinum toxin were available in all countries. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) was easily accessible in one-third of the countries. Dystonia research was conducted in 20/24 countries. Trainings on dystonia for general practitioners (GPs) were available in 11/24 countries. However, lack of trainings for other professionals was almost general. For pediatric dystonia, experts and specific training were available in over half of the countries.Conclusions: In this overview, we present the current state of dystonia management within ERN-RND. Management has slightly improved since 2016 in several fields, including diagnostics, availability of DBS, and research. The results highlight that future challenges in dystonia management are accessibility of experts, and diagnostic tools and treatments, education on adult and childhood dystonia, and optimization of referral pathways. These findings are important for improving dystonia care across Europe.
AB - Background: Since the first European-wide evaluation of dystonia management in 2016, several efforts have been made to improve dystonia-care. One of these was the development of the Dystonia Disease Group as a part of the European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases (ERN-RND) that implemented several initiatives based on the recommendations made in 2016.Aim: To evaluate the current state of dystonia management across Europe.Methods: Twenty-four countries were surveyed via 62 dystonia-experts from 44 ERN-RND-related centers.Results: Dystonia-experts for adult patients were available in all surveyed countries. However, almost half of the countries evaluated accessibility as merely ‘satisfactory’. Access to genetic and neurophysiological testing was challenging to varying degrees in over half of countries. Main oral medications and botulinum toxin were available in all countries. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) was easily accessible in one-third of the countries. Dystonia research was conducted in 20/24 countries. Trainings on dystonia for general practitioners (GPs) were available in 11/24 countries. However, lack of trainings for other professionals was almost general. For pediatric dystonia, experts and specific training were available in over half of the countries.Conclusions: In this overview, we present the current state of dystonia management within ERN-RND. Management has slightly improved since 2016 in several fields, including diagnostics, availability of DBS, and research. The results highlight that future challenges in dystonia management are accessibility of experts, and diagnostic tools and treatments, education on adult and childhood dystonia, and optimization of referral pathways. These findings are important for improving dystonia care across Europe.
KW - Dystonia
KW - Dystonia management
KW - Dystonia treatment
KW - Europe
KW - Survey
U2 - 10.1007/s00415-022-11412-4
DO - 10.1007/s00415-022-11412-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 36201015
AN - SCOPUS:85139498540
SN - 0340-5354
SP - 797
EP - 809
JO - Journal of Neurology
JF - Journal of Neurology
ER -