Treatment of Chronic Muscle Spasm Secondary to Chemotherapy – A Case Report

A known common complication of chemotherapy is the development of muscle spasms. The etiology of which may be multifactorial. However, unlike spasticity secondary to stroke, chronic muscle spasms are not maintained by neurological impulses or lack thereof. Chronic muscle spasms are maintained by continuous spontaneous electrical activity (SEA) throughout the body of the muscle. I have proposed the underlying cause for the SEA is muscle ischemia and the SEA is essentially an arrhythmia similar to what is seen with arrhythmias caused by cardiac ischemia [01]. Regardless of the initial insult that results in chronic muscle spasm, the spasm takes on a life of its own