title: Treatment of spastic gait in cerebral palsy.
abstract: The most common presentation of cerebral palsy is spastic diplegia, which in severe cases can impede nursing care and in less severe cases can impair a child's ability to move around with facility. A procedure has been developed to decrease spasticity in which there is selective section of portions of the dorsal roots L2-S2. In a series of such operations in 19 children with spastic diplegia, we were able to decrease their spasticity significantly with resultant improvement in motor function and self care. There were no significant complications and patient and family satisfaction was high. Our experiences further confirm existing evidence that this procedure is very helpful and highly recommended for selected children with spasticity due to cerebral palsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown.
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Kaufman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bodensteiner
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Burkart
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gutmann
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kopitnik
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hochberg
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Loy
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cox-Ganser
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hobbs
mesh_terms: D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009128:Muscle Spasticity / Q000601:surgery; D013126:Spinal Nerve Roots / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome