Premium
Treatment of sialorrhea in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Author(s) -
Tysnes O.B.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2008.01037.x
Subject(s) - sialorrhea , drooling , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , medicine , disease , psychology , surgery
Background – Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating progressive disease of all voluntary muscles. Bulbar symptoms with reduced ability to swallow occur frequently and may also be an early symptom. For some patients drooling may represent a severe social problem. Aim – To review the literature on treatment of sialorrhea in ALS and describe possible treatments. Method – PubMed was searched combining the words amyotrophic or ALS with sialorrhea or drooling. Publications more recent than 2000 were selected. Results – A total of 31 publications were found. Of these, 22 are from 2000 or later. Thirteen of the 22 most recent publications are original papers whereas 9 are review articles. Of the original articles, four describe treatment of sialorrhea with radiotherapy, five describe effects of botolinum toxin injections into the salivary grands and two describe serious side‐effects of botolinum toxin injections for sialorrhea in ALS. The remaining original articles are case descriptions or practice surveys. Discussion – The treatment of sialorrhea in ALS is discussed in the view of current knowledge.