ORPHA:443804
Focal stiff limb syndrome
Also known as: Focal stiff-person syndrome · Stiff leg syndrome
Publications
62
43.6th percentile
Trials
0
Interventional, condition-specific
Researchers
314
Distinct authors in sample
Gene link
—
Readiness
2/6
Stages with a signal
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
A rare stiff person spectrum disorder characterized by painful episodic spasms (which are often precipitated by touch, pain, cold, movement, or negative emotions), increased stimulus sensitivity including hyperekplexia, as well as stiffness, in a lower or upper limb, typically with insidious onset and progression over months or years. The condition may eventually progress into classic stiff person syndrome. Fear of leaving the house and walking unaided is characteristic. Most patients have autoantibodies in serum and CSF, in particular anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies. In rare cases, the syndrome is of paraneoplastic origin.
How rare: How common this is has not been clearly measured.
Cross-references
Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.
- MONDO:0018629
- UMLS:C4324606
Additional Mondo synonyms (1)
focal stiff-person syndrome
Research stages
Trial readiness signals
Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”
2/6 stages with a signal
Research-stage checklist from open sources (GenCC, literature, Monarch when enriched, ClinicalTrials.gov). Not a prognosis or care recommendation.
- Gene identifiedNot found
No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build
- LiteraturePresent
62 matched papers (36 in last 10 years) Source
- Phenotype characterisedPresent
17 HPO annotations (e.g. Agoraphobia; Brisk reflexes; Falls) Source
- Animal modelNot found
No Alliance genotype “model of” associations via Monarch for these Mondo IDs
- Orphan designationNot found
No FDA or EMA orphan-drug designation matched this disease via UMLS or preferred name Source
- Interventional trialNot found
No matched interventional trial under our ClinicalTrials.gov rules
Biology
Genes and phenotypes
Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.
Do we know what causes it?
Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.
No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.
Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)
17
Associated phenotypes · MONDO:0018629
- Agoraphobia
- Brisk reflexes
- Falls
- Inability to walk
- Autoimmunity
Showing 5 of 17 — open Monarch for the full list.
Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)
None returned for this Mondo ID. Empty here is not proof that no model organism work exists under another name or gene.
Monarch fetch 2026-07-29
Therapies
Designations, candidates, and chemicals
FDA OOPD and EMA orphan designations, Open Targets clinical candidates, and CTD chemical associations via MyDisease.info. These never change the interventional-trial headline.
Orphan designation (FDA · EMA)
No designation matched this disease via UMLS or preferred name on the FDA OOPD mirror or EMA orphan register. Absence here is not proof that none exists under another wording.
Open Targets candidates
No drugs or clinical candidates returned for this Mondo ID on Open Targets.
CTD chemicals (MyDisease.info)
No CTD chemical associations returned for this Mondo ID.
Literature
Is anyone studying this?
62
62 papers have ever been published on this condition (under this name). For scale, breast cancer has over 700,000. Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=3967) is 59.
62 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 59 (publications denominator n=3967).
36 in the last 10 years · high confidence · 43.6th percentile (publications denominator)
Phrase hits: 62 · MeSH hits: 0
Who's working on it?
314
Distinct author names in 62 sampled papers — named people below.
Who's working on it?
No interventional trial matched this name; these authors publish on it in the sampled literature — a practical starting point for contact.
- 01Dalakas MC5 papers · 2024
Neuromuscular Diseases Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892-1382, USA.
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Meinck HM4 papers · 2014
2 Department of Neurology, INF 400, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Baitchman E3 papers · 2020
Zoo New England, 1 Franklin Park Road, Boston, MA, United States of America.
Papers in Europe PMC - 04Guerrel J3 papers · 2021
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, Panamá.
Papers in Europe PMC - 05Honnorat J3 papers · 2021
From the Neuroimmunology Program (F.G., J.D.), Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain; Centre de Référence National pour les Syndromes Neurologiques Paranéoplasique (A.V., S.M.-C., J.-C.G.A., V.D., B.J., L.T., J.H.), Hôpital Neurologique, Hospices Civils de Lyon; SynatAc Team (A.V., S.M.-C., V.D., B.J., L.T., J.H.), NeuroMyoGene Institute, INSERM U1217/CNRS UMR5310, Lyon; Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (A.V., S.M.-C., V.D., B.J., L.T., J.H.), Université de Lyon; Service de Neurologie (J.-C.G.A.), CHU de Saint-Etienne, France; Department of Neurology (D.D., A.M.), Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; Neurology Unit (B.G.), Trento Hospital, Azienda Provinciale per I Servizi Sanitari (APSS) di Trento, Italy; Oxford Autoimmune Neurology Group (S.R.I.), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Neuroimmunology Section (F.L.), Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Kiel/Lübeck; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Berlin (H.P.), and Department of Neurology and Experimental Neurology (H.P.), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; Centre de Compétence des Syndromes Neurologiques Paranéoplasiques et Encéphalites Autoimmunes (D.P.), Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Department of Neurology 2 Mazarin (D.P.), and INSERM U 1127 (D.P.), CNRS UMR 7225, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière Groupe, Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtriêre et Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, AP-HP, France; Department of Neurology (M.J.T.), Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Clinical Medicine (C.A.V.), University of Bergen; Department of Neurology (C.A.V.), Haukeland University Hospital; Neuro-SysMed-Centre of Excellence for Experimental Therapy in Neurology (C.A.V.), Departments of Neurology and Clinical Medicine, Bergen, Norway; and Neurology Department (J.J.V.), Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands. jerome.honnorat@chu-lyon.fr.
Papers in Europe PMC - 06Ibáñez R3 papers · 2021
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, Panamá.
Papers in Europe PMC - 07Corcia P2 papers · 2017
Université François-Rabelais, Inserm, U930, Tours, France.
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Dalmau J2 papers · 2021
From the Neuroimmunology Program (F.G., J.D.), Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain; Centre de Référence National pour les Syndromes Neurologiques Paranéoplasique (A.V., S.M.-C., J.-C.G.A., V.D., B.J., L.T., J.H.), Hôpital Neurologique, Hospices Civils de Lyon; SynatAc Team (A.V., S.M.-C., V.D., B.J., L.T., J.H.), NeuroMyoGene Institute, INSERM U1217/CNRS UMR5310, Lyon; Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (A.V., S.M.-C., V.D., B.J., L.T., J.H.), Université de Lyon; Service de Neurologie (J.-C.G.A.), CHU de Saint-Etienne, France; Department of Neurology (D.D., A.M.), Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; Neurology Unit (B.G.), Trento Hospital, Azienda Provinciale per I Servizi Sanitari (APSS) di Trento, Italy; Oxford Autoimmune Neurology Group (S.R.I.), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Neuroimmunology Section (F.L.), Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Kiel/Lübeck; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Berlin (H.P.), and Department of Neurology and Experimental Neurology (H.P.), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; Centre de Compétence des Syndromes Neurologiques Paranéoplasiques et Encéphalites Autoimmunes (D.P.), Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Department of Neurology 2 Mazarin (D.P.), and INSERM U 1127 (D.P.), CNRS UMR 7225, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière Groupe, Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtriêre et Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, AP-HP, France; Department of Neurology (M.J.T.), Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Clinical Medicine (C.A.V.), University of Bergen; Department of Neurology (C.A.V.), Haukeland University Hospital; Neuro-SysMed-Centre of Excellence for Experimental Therapy in Neurology (C.A.V.), Departments of Neurology and Clinical Medicine, Bergen, Norway; and Neurology Department (J.J.V.), Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09Evans M2 papers · 2020
Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Washington, DC, United States of America.
Papers in Europe PMC - 10Gratwicke B2 papers · 2020
Zoo New England, 1 Franklin Park Road, Boston, MA, United States of America.
Papers in Europe PMC
Clinical research
Is a treatment being tested?
0
interventional trials for this specific condition
No interventional trial testing a treatment matched this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov (observational studies and pan-disease registries are listed separately when present).
Data as of 11 September 2026 · last trial check 11 September 2026
No matched interventional trials. This is true for 77.2% of diseases in the trials denominator (5501 of 7126). Here are the researchers publishing on it.
high confidence · 38.6th percentile (trials denominator)
Recruiting interventional trials
From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set
No interventional trial testing a treatment was found for this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov.
See who's working on it — people publishing on this disease are often the practical next contact when no trial is listed.
Other registries (secondary)
Broader net from EU CTIS, ISRCTN, and ICTRP when available — deduped against ClinicalTrials.gov IDs already counted above. Dual-model LLM relevance gates what we keep. These rows are not added to the interventional headline.
raw 2 · after dedupe 2 · already on CT.gov 0 · kept 0 · parent 0 · uncertain 2 · dropped 0 · fetched 2026-07-30
Source notes: ictrp: Error: ICTRP public search unavailable (WHO portal is SPA-only; SOAP needs partnership). Tried: https://apps.who.int/tri
No secondary-registry studies passed dual-model relevance for this condition name (after dedupe).
Uncertain / not reviewed (2)
- isrctn·ISRCTN57435427·No longer recruiting·Is it clinically effective to treat arm flexor spasticity, with Botulinum toxin - type A (BoNTA) and physiotherapy, as soon as signs of abnormal muscle activity are observed?
skipped — LLM skipped (--skip-llm)
- isrctn·ISRCTN88754802·No longer recruiting·Evaluation of clinical efficacy and safety of traditional chinese medicine for oral and external use combined with physical therapy in patients undergoing knee arthroplasty
skipped — LLM skipped (--skip-llm)
Where to find support
Condition-specific patient organisations, when Orphanet lists them, are on the disease’s Orphanet page. We also link umbrella groups that support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families.
Orphanet entry for Focal stiff limb syndrome — check Associations / patient organisations on that page.
India — NPRD
Last verified 2026-07-26This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.
Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.
How we counted this
Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.
"Focal stiff limb syndrome" OR "Focal stiff-person syndrome" OR "Stiff leg syndrome"
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"Focal stiff limb syndrome" OR "Focal stiff-person syndrome" OR "Stiff leg syndrome"
Study-type breakdown: 0 interventional · 0 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase; with hits: phrase
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
- No synonyms dropped by stoplist
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus
Ingested 2026-07-27T16:26:59.865Z