Comparative Effects of Multilevel Muscle Tendon Surgery, Osteotomies, and Dorsal Rhizotomy on Functional and Gait Outcome Measures for Children With Cerebral Palsy

Abstract Objective To compare the impact of common surgical interventions (selective dorsal rhizotomy, muscle-tendon surgery, and osteotomies) for patients with cerebral palsy (CP) on Gross Motor Function Measure and temporal, kinematic, and kinetic gait variables as assessed via 3-dimensional motion analysis. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Motion analyses laboratory. Participants Ninety-four patients with CP, 56 of whom underwent surgery (37, muscle-tendon surgery; 11, osteotomy; and 8, selective dorsal rhizotomy) and 38 of whom did not have surgery; the patients were ages 4-18 years, with a Gross Motor Function Classification System classification of I, II, or III. Interventions Single-event, multilevel muscle tendon surgery, selective dorsal rhizotomy, and osteotomy. Main Outcome Measures Change scores (postintervention – preintervention) in Gross Motor Function Measure and temporal, kinematic, and kinetic gait variables. Results No statistically significant differences in change scores were found between groups in the Gross Motor Function Measure, velocity, or stride length measures after the observation period. The selective dorsal rhizotomy group had greater improvements in knee extension when compared with the nonsurgical group and greater hip and knee total range of motion during the gait cycle when compared with nonsurgical group and the muscle-tendon surgery and osteotomy cohorts. Lastly, the muscle-tendon surgery group had greater improvements in total knee range of motion compared with the nonsurgical group. Conclusions Patients who undergo selective dorsal rhizotomy and, to a lesser extent, muscle tendon procedures demonstrate greater improvements in kinematic gait variables compared with nonsurgical interventions in patients with spasticity resulting from CP.