Neuromuscular & Movement Disorders FAQs

What research opportunities should I expect when I visit a neuromuscular doctor?

Our neuromuscular patients are offered the opportunity to enroll in a neuromuscular research database. This ensures that patients have access to research studies as they become available.

• IND research: Our neuromuscular research database includes 4,500 patients.

What is the volume of research conducted at the KUMC Neuromuscular Section?

The KUMC Neuromuscular Section is in one of the busiest, if not the busiest, Neuromuscular Clinical Trials Unit in the USA.

• IND research: We have about 50 to 60 active neuromuscular research protocols with a variety of sponsors. We have a tradition of intramural and extramural collaboration. These research programs cover a wide variety of neuromuscular disorders including ALS, neuropathies, MG and muscle disease.

What goes wrong in peripheral neuropathy?

Peripheral neuropathy has many causes, but compression injury and diabetes are two common causes. Numbness occurs because the signals on sensory nerves traveling to the brain are blocked. Although numbness is troubling by itself, what makes neuropathy even more disabling is that if often develops into a painful condition. Loss of large nerves involved in providing a sense of where your limbs are in space (proprioception) are also affected along with motor nerves leading to progressive loss of muscular function.

• IND research: The mechanisms underlying peripheral neuropathy and potential new therapies are the focus of work currently being pursued by a group of researchers in the IND. Recent work on an animal model of diabetic neuropathy has provided a greater understanding of the pathology affecting sensory neurons involved in pain sensation. Pain neurons have been found to be responsive to either of two neurotrophic factors (NGF or DGNF). New evidence from this group links impaired trophic support to neuropathic neuronal deficits of nociceptive neurons. This works suggests potential new therapies for treatment of diabetic neuropathy.

How prevalent is Parkinson's disease across the USA?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, complications from Parkinson's disease are the 14th leading cause of death in the United States. KUMC is the region's leading center for research on the disease and is helping to find new drugs and other treatments for the disease that is expected to increase over the next 20 years due to the country's aging population.

• IND research: Research by IND investigators is answering questions about the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of deep brain stimulation - a very effective mode of treatment in drug resistant Parkinson’s disease. KUMC was one of the original centers involved in the application of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease.