Management of Spasticity in Moderate and Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Evaluation of Clinical Practice Guidelines.
Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in development of spasticity, which adversely affects function and quality of life. Given the foundation of optimal clinical practice is use of the best available evidence, we aimed to identify, describe, and evaluate methodological quality of evidence-based spasticity clinical practice guidelines (CPGs).



A comprehensive search for CPGs encompassed electronic databases and online sources. Eligible CPGs were evaluated using the validated Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument.



Five CPGs were eligible for review; 2 were specific to acquired brain injury and 1 to TBI. The 3 brain injury-specific CPGs contained 423 recommendations overall, but only 8 spasticity recommendations. On the basis of AGREE appraisals, all CPGs performed well in the areas of reporting scope and purpose; clearly presenting recommendations; including various stakeholders in the CPG development process; and reporting conflict of interest. However, only one CPG performed adequately on describing facilitators and barriers to implementation, advice, and tools on how to implement recommendations and provision of audit criteria. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for agreement between raters showed high agreement (ICC > 0.80) for most guidelines.



Given the unique etiological features and treatment challenges associated with managing spasticity after TBI, more TBI-specific spasticity CPGs are required. These should incorporate information on the facilitators and barriers to implementation, advice on implementing recommendations, and audit criteria.
National Trauma Research Institute, Monash University, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Dr Pattuwage); Epworth Hospital, Monash University, Richmond, Victoria, Australia (Dr Olver); Monash Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Dr Lai); Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Dr Martin); School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Dr Piccenna); Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (Dr Gruen); and Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Dr Bragge).
Loyal
L
Pattuwage
John
J
Olver
Caius
C
Martin
Francis
F
Lai
Loretta
L
Piccenna
Russell
R
Gruen
Peter
P
Bragge
D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D016208:Databases, Factual; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D009128:Muscle Spasticity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016896:Treatment Outcome