[Source:  Medical News Today]

Selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) is a surgical procedure used to treat spasticity in some children with spastic cerebral palsy. This procedure appears to be effective, but for how long? Researchers from Montreal, Quebec, Canada,* set out to find the answer to this question by studying data from the McGill University Rhizotomy Database on 102 pediatric patients with long-term follow-up. The researchers found that, in the majority of children with spastic cerebral palsy, the benefits of SDR last throughout adolescence and into early adulthood. Details on the study findings are reported and discussed in “Long-term functional benefits of selective dorsal rhizotomy for spastic cerebral palsy. Clinical article,” by Dr. Roy W. R. Dudley and colleagues, published online, ahead of print, in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a term used to describe various disorders of movement, muscle tone, or posture. Caused by abnormal brain development or an injury that affects the part of the brain that controls motor activities, CP first appears before, during, or soon after birth, and can affect a variety of muscles. Spastic cerebral palsy represents the type of CP that manifests increased muscle tension or tone; this increased tone makes the affected muscles very stiff and muscle movements appear spastic. Studies have shown that gross motor development in young people with spastic CP can plateau during childhood and may decline during adolescence. It is therefore essential to improve motor function early in these children and maintain any improvements in muscle function over time so that these children may become productive young adults.
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