{"id":50545,"date":"2014-09-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/09\/23\/unmc-hosting-largest-study-ever-done-on-rare-movement-disorder\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T14:49:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T19:49:07","slug":"unmc-hosting-largest-study-ever-done-on-rare-movement-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/09\/23\/unmc-hosting-largest-study-ever-done-on-rare-movement-disorder\/","title":{"rendered":"UNMC hosting largest study ever done on rare movement disorder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nIt’s a debilitating disorder that causes people to feel like they are going to fall down when they are standing.<\/p>\n

\nIt’s called primary orthostatic tremor (OT), and this week the University of Nebraska Medical Center is hosting more than 50 OT patients from around the world in what is the largest study ever done with OT patients.<\/p>\n

\n“It’s a very rare condition, so it’s quite an achievement to get so many patients to congregate in Omaha,” said Diego Torres-Russotto, M.D., a movement disorders specialist at UNMC. “OT is a miserable disease. Hopefully, this study will help us come up with some answers for these people.”<\/p>\n

\nDr. Torres-Russotto, who is an associate professor in neurological sciences, said patients will be coming from Spain, England, Canada, Australia and the United States.<\/p>\n

\nThe International Orthostatic Tremor Meeting started Monday evening and will run through Friday. This marks the second time Omaha has hosted the event, with the previous Omaha meeting held in 2012. Last year, the meeting was held in Australia.<\/p>\n

\nThe patients will each undergo a two-hour physical examination by a movement disorder specialist and a physical therapist, as well as electrophysiological studies. The goal of the study will be to determine if the patients really do have postural instability and to assess the presence of ataxia, a neurological sign consisting of lack of voluntary coordination of muscle movements.<\/p>\n

\nIn addition to Dr. Torres-Russotto, the research team in neurological sciences includes: John Bertoni, M.D., Ph.D., professor, and Amy Hellman, M.D. and Danish Bhatti, M.D., both assistant professors.<\/p>\n

\nCollaborators from UNMC’s hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, include: Jen McKune, Lori Schmaderer and Katie Blacketer — Physical Therapy Department; and Cindy Penke, Regan Iske and Bobbi Roeder – case managers in the Movement Disorders Department. <\/p>\n

\nDr. Torres-Russotto said participants in this year’s study will go through four new features:<\/p>\n