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Injections May Relieve Drooling in Nerve-Damaged Kids

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WEDNESDAY, Sept. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Botulinum toxin injections may temporarily relieve drooling in kids with certain neurological conditions, a recent European study has found.

Depending on its severity, drooling can lead to stigmatization as well as social neglect, numerous daily clothing changes, skin irritation around the mouth, aspiration pneumonia as well as dehydration, Dr. Arthur Scheffer of Radboud University Health examination Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, as well as colleagues noted in a news release about their study.

In the study, Scheffer's team gave botulinum toxin injections to 131 kids, average age 10.9 years, with cerebral palsy or other non-progressive neurological conditions, as well as moderate to very bad drooling. The injections were confined to the submandibular glands, which are accountable for 70% of saliva production while a person is resting.

Two months after the injections, the average drooling quotient had fallen to 15.5 (on a scale of zero to 100) from 28.8 at the start of the study. As well as, the study authors noted, 61 patients achieved a 50% reduction in drooling.

At the eight-month follow-up, the average drooling quotient was 18.7, according to the report in the September issue of the journal Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery.

The findings "indicate that most patients who initially respond well to injection can expect an effect to final between 19 as well as 33 weeks. Although the 46.6% success rate may appear abridged, its safety as well as efficacy make botulinum toxin a useful first-line invasive treatment incase conservative measures possess failed," the researchers concluded in the news release from the journal's publisher.

Botulinum toxin injections possess been used safely for years, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Side effects can include rash, whole-body muscle soreness, difficulty swallowing as well as weakness in the injected muscles, but they usually go away quickly, the AAP notes.

-- Robert Preidt

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