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Crossing barriers : a multidisciplinary approach to children and adults with young-onset movement disorders

van Egmond, Martje E ; Eggink, Hendriekje ; Kuiper, Anouk ; Sival, Deborah A ; Verschuuren-Bemelmans, Corien C ; Tijssen, Marina A J and de Koning, Tom J LU (2018) In Journal of clinical movement disorders 5.
Abstract

Background: Diagnosis of less common young-onset movement disorders is often challenging, requiring a broad spectrum of skills of clinicians regarding phenotyping, normal and abnormal development and the wide range of possible acquired and genetic etiologies. This complexity often leads to considerable diagnostic delays, paralleled by uncertainty for patients and their families. Therefore, we hypothesized that these patients might benefit from a multidisciplinary approach. We report on the first 100 young-onset movement disorders patients who visited our multidisciplinary outpatient clinic.

Methods: Clinical data were obtained from the medical records of patients with disease-onset before age 18 years. We investigated whether the... (More)

Background: Diagnosis of less common young-onset movement disorders is often challenging, requiring a broad spectrum of skills of clinicians regarding phenotyping, normal and abnormal development and the wide range of possible acquired and genetic etiologies. This complexity often leads to considerable diagnostic delays, paralleled by uncertainty for patients and their families. Therefore, we hypothesized that these patients might benefit from a multidisciplinary approach. We report on the first 100 young-onset movement disorders patients who visited our multidisciplinary outpatient clinic.

Methods: Clinical data were obtained from the medical records of patients with disease-onset before age 18 years. We investigated whether the multidisciplinary team, consisting of a movement disorder specialist, pediatric neurologist, pediatrician for inborn errors of metabolism and clinical geneticist, revised the movement disorder classification, etiological diagnosis, and/or treatment.

Results: The 100 referred patients (56 males) had a mean age of 12.5 ± 6.3 years and mean disease duration of 9.2 ± 6.3 years. Movement disorder classification was revised in 58/100 patients. Particularly dystonia and myoclonus were recognized frequently and supported by neurophysiological testing in 24/29 patients. Etiological diagnoses were made in 24/71 (34%) formerly undiagnosed patients, predominantly in the genetic domain. Treatment strategy was adjusted in 60 patients, of whom 43 (72%) reported a subjective positive effect.

Conclusions: This exploratory study demonstrates that a dedicated tertiary multidisciplinary approach to complex young-onset movement disorders may facilitate phenotyping and improve recognition of rare disorders, with a high diagnostic yield and minimal diagnostic delay. Future studies are needed to investigate the cost-benefit ratio of a multidisciplinary approach in comparison to regular subspecialty care.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of clinical movement disorders
volume
5
article number
3
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:29636982
ISSN
2054-7072
DOI
10.1186/s40734-018-0070-x
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
03b25aad-1a35-474d-b923-f8e523c27492
date added to LUP
2020-02-11 12:45:09
date last changed
2020-02-11 15:13:53
@article{03b25aad-1a35-474d-b923-f8e523c27492,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Diagnosis of less common young-onset movement disorders is often challenging, requiring a broad spectrum of skills of clinicians regarding phenotyping, normal and abnormal development and the wide range of possible acquired and genetic etiologies. This complexity often leads to considerable diagnostic delays, paralleled by uncertainty for patients and their families. Therefore, we hypothesized that these patients might benefit from a multidisciplinary approach. We report on the first 100 young-onset movement disorders patients who visited our multidisciplinary outpatient clinic.</p><p>Methods: Clinical data were obtained from the medical records of patients with disease-onset before age 18 years. We investigated whether the multidisciplinary team, consisting of a movement disorder specialist, pediatric neurologist, pediatrician for inborn errors of metabolism and clinical geneticist, revised the movement disorder classification, etiological diagnosis, and/or treatment.</p><p>Results: The 100 referred patients (56 males) had a mean age of 12.5 ± 6.3 years and mean disease duration of 9.2 ± 6.3 years. Movement disorder classification was revised in 58/100 patients. Particularly dystonia and myoclonus were recognized frequently and supported by neurophysiological testing in 24/29 patients. Etiological diagnoses were made in 24/71 (34%) formerly undiagnosed patients, predominantly in the genetic domain. Treatment strategy was adjusted in 60 patients, of whom 43 (72%) reported a subjective positive effect.</p><p>Conclusions: This exploratory study demonstrates that a dedicated tertiary multidisciplinary approach to complex young-onset movement disorders may facilitate phenotyping and improve recognition of rare disorders, with a high diagnostic yield and minimal diagnostic delay. Future studies are needed to investigate the cost-benefit ratio of a multidisciplinary approach in comparison to regular subspecialty care.</p>}},
  author       = {{van Egmond, Martje E and Eggink, Hendriekje and Kuiper, Anouk and Sival, Deborah A and Verschuuren-Bemelmans, Corien C and Tijssen, Marina A J and de Koning, Tom J}},
  issn         = {{2054-7072}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{Journal of clinical movement disorders}},
  title        = {{Crossing barriers : a multidisciplinary approach to children and adults with young-onset movement disorders}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40734-018-0070-x}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s40734-018-0070-x}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}