CALORIC REQUIREMENTS OF A SPASTIC IMMOBILE CEREBRAL-PALSY PATIENT - ACASE-REPORT

This article documents the reduced caloric requirements for a spastic, immobile, cerebral palsy patient. We report an 11-year-old immobile, spastic, quadriparetic patient who remained obese despite receiving le ss than one half of the recommended basal caloric requirements for age , Basal metabolic rate was determined by indirect calorimetry using a Sensor Medics 2900 instrument, Standard reference sources indicate tha t an able-bodied 11-year-old child of comparable height requires 1,493 kcal/d for support of basal metabolic functions, Our patient was foll owed for 8 weeks on reduced calories and assessed for adequacy of diet by nitrogen balance studies and other appropriate parameters, Our dat a suggest that a subset of severely impaired children with cerebral pa lsy may require much less in total kilocalories per day for nutritiona l support than previous studies would indicate.