Clinical Research Directory

Validation of a Quality of Life Assessment Tool in Adult Generalized Dystonodyskinetic Syndromes Treated by Continuous Electrical Neuromodulation

In spite of a growing interest in the evaluation of health-related quality of life in movement's disorders management, there is no tool specifically dedicated to dystonia and related syndromes that measures both the objective severity of the handicap and the patient's feelings about the surgical treatment in terms of subjective improvement. We have been working for several years at the bedside of patients operated on in the " pathologies cérébrales résistantes " Unit on the development of a related questionnaire to assess both the motor severity and the patients' feelings about the evolution of their disease under Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). The self-questionnaire designed would allow to a certain extent to get away from the two gold standards currently used in the field, i.e. the Burke, Fahn \& Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale (BFMDRS) and the SF-36, thus facilitating the evaluation and allowing a homogenization of the practices for the different implanting centers on the french territory.