The Effect of Botulinum Toxin on the Amount of Sialorrhea in Patients With Neurologic Diseases

Abstract

Background: Drooling is an annoying problem in some neurologic and systemic diseases. Injecting botulinum toxin in the salivary glands is one of the most effective and safest treatments. Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of botulinum toxin on the amount of sialorrhea in patients with neurologic diseases. Materials and methods: This study included ten patients and 60 units of botulinum toxin type A (Dysport) were injected in any submandibular gland and 120 units were injected in any parotid gland bilaterally under the ultrasonographic guide. To check drooling, daily consumption of tissue was counted and it was cheeked once before injection and at six, 12, 18, and 24 weeks after injection; then the results were compared. Results: In this study, the effect of Dysport on the amount of drooling of the participants at the sixth, 12th, and 18th weeks after treatment was significantly decreased (P value of 0.00016, 0.0001, and 0.00011, respectively). However, after 24 weeks, this difference was not significant (P value = 0.15). Conclusions: These finding showed that Dysport can be significantly effective in reducing the amount of saliva for 18 weeks.