SELECTIVE DORSAL RHIZOTOMY - OUTCOME AND COMPLICATIONS IN TREATING SPASTIC CEREBRAL-PALSY

SELECTIVE DORSAL RHIZOTOMY has shown great promise as a treatment for the functional disabilities and deforming hypertonia of spastic cerebr al palsy. At New York University Medical Center, 200 children underwen t this procedure between 1986 and 1990. All groups, whether walkers, c rawlers, or nonlocomotors, showed improvement in the tone and range of most muscles tested. Half of these patients experienced complications . Thirty-five of these were serious and included bronchospasm (5.5%), aspiration pneumonia (3.5%), urinary retention (7%), and sensory loss (2%). There are, however, clear indications that warn of these complic ations; monitoring and prophylactic treatment can minimize their effec ts, and the possibility of such problems is more than offset by the pr oven benefits of this operative procedure.