Voice tremors respond to injections of Botox into the vocal cords, according to recent research. Voice tremors can be part of a common movement disorder called essential tremor or it can exist by itself. The condition is often embarrassing and disabling. Oral medications don't help much, but small studies have shown that the disorder may respond to Botox injections. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, USA, conducted a study with 13 patients, ages 54 to 81 years, with voice tremor but without tremor in the head, mouth, jaw or face, or any signs of Parkinson's disease. On scales of 0 to 4, the average severity of voice tremor was rated 3.00, and functional disability averaged 2.31. The participants were randomly assigned to get various doses of Botox injected into each vocal cord and were followed for 6 weeks. All the subjects perceived some effect from the treatment, beginning 1 to 7 days after the injections. By 6 weeks, average severity score was reduced to 1.31, while functional disability score declined to an average of 0.85. The adverse effects were mainly breathlessness and difficulty in swallowing, rated mild to severe, which improved in all patients but one after 6 weeks. The results of the study show that Botox is a promising treatment for voice tremor, however, further controlled studies are needed.
Archives of Neurology,
September 2004