INTRODUCTION
Cervical dystonia (CD) is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by involuntary contractions of the cervical musculature that lead to abnormal movements and postures of the head and neck [
1,
2]. CD is the most common form of focal dystonia with a prevalence of 0.006% in Europe [
3] and 0.280% in the United States [
2]. While CD causes variable postures of the head and neck, torticollis is the most common symptom [
4].
Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) injection, physical therapy, deep brain stimulation, and oral medications including anticholinergics and benzodiazepines have been used for the management of CD. Among these treatments, BoNT injection has been the first-line therapy for CD for nearly 25 years [
5]. Symptomatic relief has been reported with BoNT injection in more than 85% of those affected [
6-
10]. However, not all subjects show satisfactory improvement of abnormal posture of the head and neck after BoNT administration. The most important determinants in achieving a favorable response to BoNT treatment are proper identification of the involved muscles and the appropriate dosage of BoNT [
10].
Inspection and palpation of dystonic muscles and electromyography have been used to identify the dystonic muscles in CD [
11]. Sung et al. [
12] reported the usefulness of
18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (
18F-FDG PET/CT) for identifying dystonic muscles in subjects with CD. Lee et al. [
13] compared the outcome of BoNT injection between a
18F-FDG PET/CT-assisted clinically targeted group and a clinically targeted group and reported that the
18F-FDG PET/CT-assisted clinically targeted group was superior to the clinically targeted group in terms of the reduction rate of the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS) and the BoNT-A reinjection-free living period.
18F-FDG PET/CT has subsequently become a useful tool in the identification of dystonic muscles of CD, which results in better outcome with BoNT injection.
However, not all subjects with CD show positive
18F-FDG PET/CT findings [
13]. Our clinical experiences with
18F-FDG PET/CT indicate that positive findings increase with the clinical severity of CD [
13]. However, it has not yet been established whether there is any correlation between the clinical severity of CD and
18F-FDG PET/CT findings. If there is a significant correlation, the threshold of the clinical severity of CD for acquiring positive
18F-FDG PET/CT study findings would be able to be determined. This would help prevent clinicians from conducting negative
18F-FDG PET/CT studies.
The objectives of this study were to examine whether there is a significant correlation between the clinical severity of CD and 18F-FDG PET/CT findings and, if so, to determine the threshold of the clinical severity of CD for the acquisition of positive 18F-FDG PET/CT study findings.
DISCUSSION
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate a significant correlation between the clinical severity of CD and 18F-FDG PET/CT findings.
The present study aimed to examine the clinical usefulness of
18F-FDG PET/CT by assessing whether the degree of
18F-FDG uptake is related with the extent of clinical symptoms by examining the level of clinical severity that can result in positive findings under the
18F-FDG PET/CT test in CD with torticollis symptoms.
18F-FDG PET/CT is useful since it can determine the metabolism of the deep and superficial neck muscles simultaneously and non-invasively by overcoming the shortcomings of physical examination and electromyography mapping [
12,
19].
18F-FDG PET/CT is also useful in the selection of muscles in CD, as evident with the assessment of the effects of BoNT treatment [
13]. However, no research has assessed the correlation between the clinical severity expressed by means of TWSTRS score and SUVmax as a means of illustrating the extent of increase in
18F-FDG uptake in
18F-FDG PET/CT.
To study the relationship between clinical severity and
18F-FDG PET/CT, we presently conducted a correlation analysis between the TWSTRS score and the highest SUVmax. The highest SUVmax significantly correlated with TWSTRS. Although significant correlations with total TWSTRS score, severity subscale score, and disability subscale score were evident, there was no correlation with the pain subscale score. Pain is a relatively common symptom of CD, with a reported rate of 68% [
20]. In the present study, 37 subjects (78.72%) had pain but 24 subjects (51.06%) displayed a low level of pain, including 10 patients who were pain-free. This may reflect the difficulty of achieving an objective level of severity symptoms only by means of pain, the most subjective subscale of TWSTRS. Due to differences in pain perception, and because pain tolerance is associated with other factors including ethnicity, genetics and sex, pain is a very subjective and complex entity that varies among individuals.
Based on this correlation, we were able to provide the threshold of the clinical severity of CD for acquisition of positive 18F-FDG PET/CT study findings. The cutoff value of TWSTRS for 18F-FDG PET/CT to display positive findings was set at a score of 27.5 with 90.3% sensitivity and 64.3% specificity. We set the sensitivity as the major value and, as such, selected a point at which the specificity is at its peak when the sensitivity is high at 90.3%. Those with a TWSTRS score <22 did not show increased 18F-FDG uptake due to relatively low glucose metabolism, probably caused by insufficient contractility of the dystonic muscles compared to adjacent muscles. Thus, we suggest that it would be better for clinicians to use conventional methods, such as physical examination and electromyography to identify dystonic muscles instead of 18F-FDG PET/CT study for patients with TWSTRS score <27.5. The use of the suggested cutoff value in determining whether to perform 18F-FDG PET/CT for patients with CD with symptoms of torticollis may have value, given that the examination is expensive. Use of the cutoff aids in determining whether 18F-FDG PET/CT will be useful in discriminating dystonic muscles in patients with moderate severity. There are no decision guidelines concerning the implementation of 18F-FDG PET/CT. This study is the first to present a cutoff value for clinical severity that can be used in predicting the presence of 18F-FDG PET/CT positive findings.
Among the head and neck rotator muscles, the deep-seated neck muscles including the oblique capitis inferior, longus colli and rectus capitis posterior major are frequently involved. The superficial neck muscle is the dystonic muscle in the previously reported majority of CD patients. Only a few prior studies used
18F-FDG PET/CT to examine the involvement of deep neck muscles, such as the longus colli/capitis, oblique capitis inferior and rectus capitis posterior major, as the dystonic muscles [
12,
13,
19]. These studies did not administer BoNT injections into these deep neck muscles. Presently, the longus colli, oblique capitis inferior and rectus capitis posterior major displayed a high frequency of
18F-FDG uptake increase in
18F-FDG PET/CT examination of patients with CD with symptoms of torticollis. Thus, the muscles should be considered as targets for BoNT injection.
Presently, we determined the cutoff value that can be used to decide whether to implement 18F-FDG PET/CT in accordance with the severity of clinical symptoms. This advantageous, since 18F-FDG PET/CT involves exposure to radiation and is expensive to do, and so should not be performed indiscriminately. The present results indicate that 18F-FDG PET/CT usefully determines dystonic muscles in CD with higher than moderate severity. In addition, it was possible to present guidelines to prioritizing the muscles for BoNT injection for those not subjected to 18F-FDG PET/CT, by computing the frequencies of the muscles for which the 18F-FDG uptake was increased under 18F-FDG PET/CT. This will provide assistance in selecting the appropriate muscle for BoNT injection by illustrating that not only the widely known superficial neck muscles, but also the deep neck muscles, such as the longus colli/capitis, oblique capitis inferior and rectus capitis posterior major, are frequently involved in CD. Lastly, the results could also be helpful in determining the dosage of BoNT injection in accordance with the extent of 18F-FDG uptake at the time of injection, since a high correlation between clinical severity and SUVmax was confirmed.
This study had several limitations. First, the results cannot be applied if the symptoms of patients including laterocollis, anterocollis, and retrocollis manifest singly or in combination, since the study was conducted only on subjects with CD with symptoms of torticollis. Second, the maximum TWSTRS score was 60, which indicates that there is a limitation in generalizing the results of this study to CD patients whose TWSTRS score exceeds 60. Third, the subjects were not divided into a BoNT injection group and a non-BoNT injection group. Among 15 subjects previously treated with BoNT injection, 8 proceeded
18F-FDG PET/CT <6 months after BoNT injection and 2 underwent
18F-FDG PET/CT <3 months later (
Table 1). The effect of BoNT lasts for 12 to 24 weeks [
21,
22]. So to investigate whether previous BoNT injection affected the existence of
18F-FDG uptake in
18F-FDG PET/CT, binomial logistic regression analysis was performed. In our analysis, previous BoNT injection did not significantly affect our study results. Fourth, since we did not compare baseline TWSTRS with the TWSTRS score following BoNT injection treatment after
18F-FDG PET/CT, it was not possible to determine the resultant effect of
18F-FDG PET/CT on the treatment of CD with BoNT.
Future studies should be broadened to include patients with a diverse range of symptoms including laterocollis, retrocollis, and anterocollis, singly or in combination, and patients with severe condition who have a TWSTRS score >60. Moreover, the scope of the analysis of the muscles should include not only the ones that function as rotators but also those that cause a wide range of head and neck movements including flexion, lateral flexion, and extension. In addition, research on the extent of improvement of clinical symptoms prior to and following BoNT injection would enable the determination of the usefulness of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the selection of target muscles and the treatment effect.
In conclusion, a significant correlation was identified between the clinical severity of CD and 18F-FDG PET/CT findings. Based on this correlation, we were able to provide a threshold of the clinical severity of CD for acquisition of positive 18F-FDG PET/CT study findings. 18F-FDG PET/CT enabled an in-depth understanding of the frequent involvement of the deep-seated neck muscles in CD. These findings are suggestive of the usefulness of 18F-FDG PET/CT for the identification of dystonic muscles of moderately severe CD. Further studies are required to verify these findings.