DT Health: Rela doctors treat rare form of Dystonia

CHENNAI: Shanthi Henry, a 57-year-old homemaker from Nagercoil, was unable to speak or chew food due to her neck seizure. She further developed severe difficulty to sit on a chair, watch TV, walk or even have food as she was hampered by the involuntary body movements.

Her son took her to Rela Hospital and a team of Neurology experts led by Dr Shankar Balakrishnan, Clinical Lead Neurology, Interventional Neurology & Neuromodulation and Dr Anbu Selvam, Senior Consultant of Neurosurgery evaluated the patient’s condition. She was diagnosed with Generalised Genetic Dystonia, which is a rare type with an incidence ratio affecting only 16/1,00,000 people in the world.

“Dystonia is a very complex, movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract on its own and uncontrollably. This can cause repetitive or twisting movements,” said Dr Shankar Balakrishnan.

“At first, the patient was offered injection therapy. Further, the movement disorder team evaluated her for Deep Brain Stimulation procedure,” Dr Anbu Selvam said.

“Further programming will be required to achieve long-term benefits. The patient recovered successfully,” the doctors added.