Focal dystonias such as writer's cramp or blepharospasm are treatable with botulinum toxin injections and medications, but both therapies provide largely symptomatic relief. Because the basic abnormality in dystonia is at the synaptic level, brain modulating therapies with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may well be able to produce lasting clinical improvement. Low-frequency threshold or subthreshold rTMS over the premotor cortex or anterior cingulate cortex, for hand dystonia and blepharospasm, respectively, could in the future become a more curative treatment, perhaps in conjunction with the current therapies.
Keywords: blepharospasm; dystonia; noninvasive brain stimulation; repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; writer’s cramp hand dystonia.
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