Botulinum Toxin: Advancing Treatments for Spasticity
A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Bacterial Toxins".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 1708
Special Issue Editors
Interests: spasticity; motor recovery; neuromodulation; neuropathic pain; neurorehabilitation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: biomedical signal processing; motor unit; EMG; neuromuscular electrophysiology; neurorehabilitation; myoelectric control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Botulinum toxin (BoNT) has become the main treatment for spasticity of cerebral and spinal origins, such as stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis. Although its efficacy in spasticity reduction has been established, especially in limb spasticity, BoNT treatment should be customized for individual patients to achieve the best possible clinical outcome.
For this Special Issue of Toxins, we welcome submissions of original research, case series, perspectives, and comprehensive reviews related to factors that can influence clinical decision making and clinical outcomes in BoNT treatment, including, but not limited to, the following:
- How to set realistic and achievable goals in BoNT treatment;
- How to optimize treatment plans if goals are not achieved;
- Appropriate and additional target muscle selection in upper and lower limb focal spasticity treatment, as the clinical manifestations of spasticity are heterogenous, and the selection of target muscles should consider joint abnormality and the resultant kinetic malalignment, especially in the lower limb;
- Exploring the adjunct therapies that can best optimize BoNT treatment effects, such as electrical stimulation, extracorporeal shock waves, or exoskeleton treatment;
- Whether early BoNT treatment can facilitate neuroplasticity and facilitate functional recovery;
- The effects of BoNT treatment on spastic muscles;
- The importance of the use of ultrasound to help enhance the delivery of BoNT into spastic muscles, given that these muscles show some changes;
- The monitoring of spastic muscles over time and after the chronic use of BoNT-A treatment;
- How to assess and differentiate these effects via electromyographic and sonographic assessment;
- Whether artificial intelligent models can predict BoNT treatment outcomes and guide and improve BoNT treatment.
Prof. Dr. Sheng Li
Prof. Dr. Ping Zhou
Prof. Dr. Rajiv Reebye
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- botulinum toxin
- spasticity
- spastic muscles
- electromyography (EMG)
- ultrasound
- neurorehabilitation
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