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Aim: To examine long-term outcomes of selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) 10 to 17 years after surgery.Method: Participants who underwent SDR had spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (CP), completed baseline gait analysis, and were 16 to 25 years old at follow-up. Non-SDR participants (i.e. controls) were matched on important clinical parameters at baseline but did not undergo SDR. All study participants completed six surveys assessing pain, quality of life, participation, function, and mobility. Treatment history for lower extremity surgery and antispasticity injections was tabulated. A subset of each study group returned for three-dimensional gait analysis, including kinematics, metabolic energy cost, and physical examination. Gait Deviation Index (GDI) was calculated to measure gait quality.Results: The study cohort had 24 participants with SDR and 11 without SDR. Of these, 13 patients with SDR (five males, eight females; median [IQR] age 17y 2mo [16y 8mo-17y 9mo]) and eight without SDR (three males, five females; median [IQR] age 19y 2mo [17y 3mo-21y 11mo]) completed baseline and follow-up gait analysis. Spasticity significantly decreased in those with SDR (p<0.05). Gait Deviation Index improved more in participants without SDR than those with SDR (Δnon-SDR =12.8 vs ΔSDR =9.1; p=0.01). Compared with the SDR group, participants without SDR underwent significantly more subsequent interventions (p<0.05).Interpretation: Patients in both the SDR and non-SDR groups showed improved gait quality more than 10 years after surgery. Participants without SDR had a larger improvement in gait pathology but underwent significantly more intervention. There were no differences between groups in survey measures. These results suggest differing treatment courses provide similar outcomes into early adulthood.What This Paper Adds: Selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) and non-SDR groups had significant improvement in gait pathology over time. The non-SDR group had significantly better gait compared with the SDR group at follow-up. The groups had similar levels of energy cost, pain, and quality of life. Non-SDR participants underwent significantly more orthopaedic surgery and antispasticity injections than SDR participants. Use of a clinically similar control group highlights that different treatment courses may result in similar outcomes into young adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The aim of this study was to explore changes in motor function up to 10 years after selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR). Method The participants comprised 29 children (20 males, nine females) with bilateral spastic diplegia who were consecutively operated on at a median age of 4 years and 3 months and followed until a median age of 15 years. SDR was combined with physiotherapy and regular follow-up visits. The distribution of preoperative Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels was as follows: I, n=1; II, n=7; III, n=8; IV, n=12; and V, n=1. Muscle tone in hip flexors, hip adductors, knee flexors, and plantar flexors was assessed with the modified Ashworth scale, passive range of motion in hip abduction, popliteal angle, maximum knee extension, dorsiflexion of the foot was measured with a goniometer, and gross motor function was assessed using the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-66). The results were compared with preoperative values, taking into account age at the time of SDR. Results After 10 years, muscle tone in hip flexors, hip adductors, knee flexors and plantar flexors was normalized in 19, 24, 13 and 23 participants respectively; mean change in passive range of motion ranged from −2.0° to 8.6°, and the mean increase in GMFM-66 was 10.6. Changes in GMFM-66 were associated with preoperative GMFCS level and GMFM-66 scores. Interpretation Children who underwent SDR and physiotherapy and were regularly followed up by an experienced team showed improved gross motor function for up to 10 years postoperatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that evaluated the long-term effects of selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) in pediatric patients with cerebral palsy (CP). The subjects were prospectively assessed at different time periods after SDR. It was found that baseline muscle tone at the knee, hop, and ankle level showed a high degree of spasticity that normalized after SDR. The spasticity-reducing effect of SDR is seen to suggest that contracture development in CP is not mediated only by spasticity.

The article discusses a study that compares function and gait in a group of certain older children who received selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) with age- and function-matched children who received either no surgery or orthopedic surgery. Ambulatory children with diplegic cerebral palsy and categorized in levels I or II of the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS). It was found that the group that received orthopedic surgery showed improved gait compared with the group that did not undergo surgery.

This study retrospectively evaluated the safety and efficacy of selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) in participants who underwent a rigorous selection process, uniform surgical procedure, and a standardized postoperative rehabilitation process. Outcome measures assessed were the Ashworth scale for spasticity, the Gillette Gait Index (GGI) for overall gait pathology, oxygen cost for gait efficiency, and the Gillette Functional Assessment Questionnaire (functional walking ability scale; [FAQ]) for functional mobility. Outcomes were evaluated for 136 children (81 males, 55 females; mean age 7y 3mo [SD 2y 1mo], range 3y 5mo–18y 9mo) for an average of 18.3 months (SD 4.4mo) postoperatively. All participants had a diagnosis of cerebral palsy (CP): 10 quadriplegia, 19 triplegia, and 107 diplegia. Preoperative Gross Motor Function Classification System levels were: Level I n=6; Level II n=64; Level III n=59, and Level IV n=7. All outcome measures improved for the group as a whole. Spasticity improved with 66 to 92% of possible gain in Ashworth scores; GGI was 7.5 times more likely to have a good as opposed to a poor outcome; energy efficiency improved in over half of the participants, and the FAQ demonstrated a statistically significant improvement of 0.9 levels ( p<0.001). The rate of complications was low, with peri- and postoperative complications resolved by time of discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the article "Functional decline in children undergoing selective dorsal rhizotomy after age 10," by B. A. MacWilliams and colleagues and published within the issue. It focuses on how two similar groups of adolescents with cerebral palsy underwent selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) and single event multi-level surgery (SEMLS). The study also discusses how SDR is more likely to be appropriate in early childhood and that it may be generally inappropriate in adolescence when other factors apart from spasticity are more important.

The author discusses the article "Does loss of spasticity matter? A 10-year follow-up after selective dorsal rhizotomy in cerebral palsy," by K. Tedroff and colleagues and published in the issue. The study followed up on 15 patients ten years after they underwent selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) and assessed outcome measures such as the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), Gross Motor Function Measure 88 (GMFM-88) and the Wilson gait scale. The authors also found that the spasticity-reducing effect of SDR did not seem to improve long-term functioning.