Status dystonicus: a diagnosis delayed

Status dystonicus, also known as the dystonic storm or dystonic crisis, is rare but may prove fatal due to respiratory and bulbar complications. In adults, the condition is rare and possibly under-reported. The lack of awareness of this condition among emergency and acute physicians may lead to an incorrect or delayed diagnosis, which should be avoided. We report a case of a 23-year-old man with athetoid cerebral palsy who presented to a district general hospital with uncontrolled dystonic movements, which were diagnosed as status dystonicus. This was successfully treated with intravenous clonidine, with full recovery returning to baseline functional state.

State of art of possible communication support systems for users with athetoid cerebral palsy

International audience This article proposes a state-of-the-art on communication support systems that can be used by users with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy. Today, many communication support systems are available on the market and/or presented in the literature.They include (1) virtual keyboards, (2) software using pictograms, (3) speech recognition, and (4) other types of input systems dedicated to physically disabled users (brain-computer interface and physical aids). After the description of these four categories of communication support systems, this article ends with a synthesis in which our view of each category of system in relation to the considered user profile is provided. Cet article propose un état de l'art des systèmes d'aide à la communication utilisables par des utilisateurs de profil Infirme Moteur Cérébral (IMC) athétosique.De nos jours, de nombreuses aides à la communication sont proposées sur le marché et/ou présentées dans la littérature. Ces aides rassemblent (1) les claviers virtuels, (2) les logiciels exploitant des pictogrammes, (3) la reconnaissance vocale et (4) les autres types de systèmes de saisie dédiées aux personnes handicapées physiques (interface cerveau-ordinateur et aides physiques). Après la description successive de ces quatre catégories d’aide, cet article se termine par une synthèse dans laquelle notre point de vue sur chaque catégorie de système relativement au profil visé, est fourni.