Adjunctive treatment and BoNT-A for post-stroke spasticity: Are we really focusing on the patient-centered goals?

Post-stroke spasticity: follow-up and functional implications of chronic long-term treatment with botulinum toxin

BACKGROUND

Around 40% of stroke survivor develop spasticity. Plantar flexors (PF) muscles are often affected, with severe functional impairment. The treatment of choice is botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) combined with adjuvant treatments. The temporary pharmacological effect implies periodic reassessment and reinjection. These long-term chronic programs require monitoring the functional impact of each cycle and the clinical evolution in relation to aging and repeated interventions.

AIM

Evaluating changes of functional level in patients with post-stroke spasticity treated with BoNT-A by assessing the long-term maintenance of the therapeutic efficacy.

DESIGN

Retrospective longitudinal observational study.

SETTING

Outpatients.

POPULATION

Chronic stroke survivors undergoing BoNT-A treatment and subsequent intensive rehabilitation (10 sessions in a day-hospital regime).

METHODS

Medical records of the enrolled patients were consulted. The primary endpoint was the change in PF spasticity by at least 1 point on the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) at each cycle. Secondary endpoints were the assessment of possible trends in gait parameters (Six Minute Walking Test [6MWT]; Timed Up and Go [TUG], and 10 Meters Walking Test [10mWT]) pre- and post-injection and at each cycle.

RESULTS

Thirty-six patients were enrolled. A reduction of at least one MAS point for PF was recorded after each cycle in all subjects. A time-dependent reduction in the proportion of patients reporting an improvement higher than the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in 6MWT and 10mWT was observed. In the case of TUG, this data kept stable at all cycles. A one-point increase in the basal functional ambulation classification (FAC) score resulted in a reduction in the probability of having a TUG improvement greater than the MCID. The opposite correlation was found for 6MWT and 10mWT.

CONCLUSIONS

With the proposed treatment, the clinical significance TUG improvement remains constant throughout repeated cycles and the proportion of patients with improvement in 6MWT and 10mWT tends to decline over time. The predictive value of basal FAC on the functional variables expected improvement may provide a potential treatment targeting tool.

CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT

These results may deliver prognostic indication allowing an optimized integration of different post-BoNT-A rehabilitation approaches, agreeing with current evidence. Adequate monitoring and treatment protocols are crucial for the stability of functional level and may prevent excessive fluctuations.

Transient Worsening of Dysphagia and Dysarthria after Treatment with Botulinum Toxin in Patients with Acquired Brain Injury

Although botulinum toxin is widely considered an effective and safe treatment for a variety of neurological conditions (such as disabling spasticity), local or systemic adverse effects have often been reported. This study describes three cases of patients with severe acquired brain injury who were receiving speech therapy for recovering dysphagia and dysarthria but showed worsening of these symptoms after receiving BoNT treatment for motor spasticity. To increase clinicians' knowledge of these adverse effects, we present our cases and explore their significance to avoid major complications such as aspiration pneumonia.

Botulinum toxin use in patients with post-stroke spasticity: a nationwide retrospective study from France

Background

Current guidelines recommend intramuscular botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) injection as first-line treatment for spasticity, a frequent and impairing feature of various central nervous system (CNS) lesions such as stroke. Patients with spasticity commonly require BoNT-A injections once every 3 to 4 months. We conducted a nationwide, population-based, retrospective cohort study, using the French National Hospital Discharge Database (PMSI), to describe BoNT-A use for spasticity in clinical practice in France between 2014 and 2020. The PMSI database covers the whole French population, corresponding to over 66 million persons.

Methods

We first searched the PMSI database for healthcare facility discharge of patients who received BoNT-A injections between 2014 and 2020, corresponding to the first set. For each BoNT-A-treated patient, we identified the medical condition for which BoNT-A may have been indicated. Another search of the PMSI database focused on patients admitted for acute stroke between 2014 and 2016 and their spasticity-related care pathway (second set). Overall, two subpopulations were analysed: 138,481 patients who received BoNT-A injections between 2014 and 2020, and 318,025 patients who survived a stroke event between 2014 and 2016 and were followed up until 2020.

Results

Among the 138,481 BoNT-A-treated patients, 53.5% received only one or two BoNT-A injections. Most of these patients (N = 85,900; 62.0%) received BoNT-A because they had CNS lesions. The number of patients with CNS lesions who received ≥1 BoNT-A injection increased by a mean of 7.5% per year from 2014 to 2019, but decreased by 0.2% between 2019 and 2020, corresponding to the COVID-19 outbreak. In stroke survivors (N = 318,025), 10.7% were coded with post-stroke spasticity, 2.3% received ≥1 BoNT-A injection between 2014 and 2020, and only 0.8% received ≥3 injections within the 12 months following BoNT-A treatment initiation, i.e., once every 3 to 4 months.

Conclusion

Our analysis of the exhaustive PMSI database showed a suboptimal implementation of BoNT-A treatment recommendations in France. BoNT-A treatment initiation and re-administration are low, particularly in patients with post-stroke spasticity. Further investigations may help explain this observation, and may target specific actions to improve spasticity-related care pathway.