Although there are some newly-developed options to treat
dystonia, its medical treatment is not always satisfactory.
Zolpidem, an
imidazopyridine agonist with a high affinity to
benzodiazepine receptor subtype ω1, has been reported to improve clinical symptoms of
dystonia in some cases. We conducted an open-label study to assess the efficacy of
zolpidem in 34 patients with
primary dystonia patients, The Burke Fahn Marsden
Dystonia Rating Scale (BFMDRS) scores in the patients were decreased from 7.2 ± 7.9 to 5.5 ± 5.0 after
zolpidem therapy (P=0.042). Next we evaluated 55 patients with primary and
secondary dystonia, 16 of 55 patients (29%) responded to
zolpidem, and
secondary dystonia, particularly post-traumatic
dystonia, was more responsive than
primary dystonia (5 of 11 [46%] vs 11 of 44 [25%]). The efficacy of
zolpidem was comparable to that of other oral medications in our previous study; 33 of 89
dystonia patients (37%) responded to trihexyphenidil, 13 of 53 (25%) responded to
clonazepam, and 4 of 21 (19%) responded to
baclofen. In conclusion, our large scale study suggested that
zolpidem may be a therapeutic option for
dystonia, particularly post-traumatic
dystonia.