Neurológia pre prax 3/2026

The history of treatment with botulinum toxin in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic

The first reports of the therapeutic use of botulinum toxin in the former Czechoslovakia date back to the early 1990s when several patients were treated for blepharospasm in Prague. After the country’s split, so-called extrapyramidal centres (or centres for abnormal movements, or centres for neurodegenerative diseases, with the names not having been standardized) were established in both parts of the country, and botulinum toxin therapy naturally became concentrated there. Czech and Slovak neurologists conducted both experimental and corporate research, which resulted in a number of interesting discoveries that subsequently led to improvements in treatment paradigms. The Czech and Slovak contribution is particularly significant in the field of research into the treatment of dystonia and spasticity, in both adult and paediatric populations.

Keywords: Botulinum toxin A, history, dystonia, spasticity