Twelve patients of spasmodic torticollis were followed up for an average of 10 years.
There were 7 males and 5 females, ranging in age from 20 to 58 at the time of onset. Conservative treatment was chosen in all cases initially, however, surgical treatment was taken in 3 cases who had no improvement by conservative treatment.
Anterior rhizotomy of C1/C3 combined with dissection of the spinal accessory root according to the method of Olivecrona was performed in two cases and dissection of the accessory nerve in one case. At the time of follow-up torticollis had improved in all operated cases. Nealy half of the cases who had had conservative treatment had improvement in some degree.
