Therapeutic Uses of Botulinum Toxin / Edition 1

by Grant Cooper

Overview

Justinius Kerner, a German medical officer and poet, was the first to realize that botulinum toxin potentially might be useful for therapeutic purposes. Kerner made this observation in 1822, but he did not call the toxin “botulinum toxin. ” Instead, Kerner called it the substance in “wirkenden stoffes,” which translates to “bad sausages. ” Kerner realized that there was a “fat poison” or “fatty acid” within sausages that produced the toxic effects that we now know as botulism. Nearly a century would pass before the bacterium producing the toxin would be isolated and the toxin ultimately renamed “botulinum toxin. ” As farsighted as Kerner was, it is doubtful that even he could have predicted just how much potential therapeutic punch was packed within his wirkenden stoffes. It was not until 1978, more than a century and a half after Kerner’s prediction, that Dr. Allan Scott received Food and Drug Administration approval to test botulinum toxin type A in human volunteers. We do not yet have a comprehensive understanding of precisely how botulinum toxin works in the human body or how our bodies fully respond to the toxin. We do know that it temporarily paralyzes muscle by inhibiting the release of acetylcholine, and it also appears to inhibit the release of other neurotransmitters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617378423
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	09/08/2011
Series:	Musculoskeletal Medicine
Edition description:	2007
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

History and Mechanism of Action.- Spasticity.- Radiation Fibrosis Syndrome.- Low Back Pain.- Piriformis Syndrome.- Plantar Fasciitis.- Headache.- Spasmodic Dysphonia.- Sialorrhea and Frey’s Syndrome.- Cosmetic Applications.- Hyperhydrosis.- Urological Applications.- Gastrointestinal Applications.- Blepharospasm.- Economics, Immunity, and Future Directions.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"This book presents many of the clinical uses of the relatively new drug, botulinum toxin. … the book attempts to cover nearly all uses of the medication known to the assorted authors, including potential treatments for which there is little peer-reviewed literature. The purpose is to provide an overview of this medication, and present clinical scenarios in which the drug might be an appropriate choice. … The target audience should be clinicians (physicians and therapists) ... ." (Ross Bogey, Doody’s Review Service, January, 2008)

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Ross Bogey, DO (Shirley Ryan AbilityLab)
Description: This book presents many of the clinical uses of the relatively new drug, botulinum toxin. Several of the chapters are excellent, particularly the review of mechanism of action and applicability in the treatment of spasticity, pain, sialorrhea and blepherospasm. However, the book attempts to cover nearly all uses of the medication known to the assorted authors, including potential treatments for which there is little peer-reviewed literature.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide an overview of this medication, and present clinical scenarios in which the drug might be an appropriate choice. However, the scope is too broad and many of the potential treatments are poorly supported by the available literature.
Audience: The target audience should be clinicians (physicians and therapists) with an introductory knowledge of how to use this drug. One concerning aspect of the book is the relative inexperience of the contributing authors. Nearly one-third are resident physicians, and the expertise of several of the staff physicians cannot be determined from their biographies or publication records.
Features: The best parts of the book are the chapters related to well described conditions treatable with botulinum toxins: spasticity, pain, headache, hyperhydrosis, and blepherospasm. The chapter on mechanism of action is particularly well written. The greatest shortcoming is in the parts devoted to treatment of conditions where there is little peer-reviewed evidence that treatment with botulinum toxins is beneficial; one example is treatment of plantar fascitis. The authors' description of their respective injection techniques would be better served in a workshop environment.
Assessment: Most of the relevant ideas in this book can be found easily via web sites devoted to treatment of movement disorders or spasticity (e.g., WeMove.org).

Doody's Review Service