Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 9, 2026
Author Spotlight: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Combined with Movement Observation in Cerebral Palsy
Published on: August 9, 2024
Growth in children with cerebral palsy during five years after selective dorsal rhizotomy: a practice-based study
Lena Westbom1, Annika Lundkvist Josenby, Philippe Wagner
1Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Sweden. lena.westbom@med.lu.se
Insights
Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) in children with cerebral palsy (CP) can lead to significant weight gain and increased BMI over five years. Monitoring weight and height is crucial to prevent potential health issues associated with overweight and obesity.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Orthopedics
- Neurology
- Developmental Pediatrics
Background:
- Overweight is a recognized side effect following Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR).
- Longitudinal growth data after SDR in children with cerebral palsy (CP) are limited.
- Understanding growth patterns is essential for managing potential health complications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the development of weight, height, and Body Mass Index (BMI) in children with CP spastic diplegia over five years post-SDR.
- To analyze growth trajectories in relation to Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels.
- To identify factors influencing BMI changes after SDR.
Main Methods:
- Prospective, longitudinal study of 56 children with CP spastic diplegia undergoing SDR.
- Data collection included weight and height measurements over five years.
- Swedish growth charts were used to calculate BMI z-scores for age and gender.
Main Results:
- Median BMI z-score increased by +0.57 five years post-SDR (p < 0.05).
- Incidence of obesity (BMI > +2 SD) increased significantly (p < 0.05), while thinness decreased.
- Growth patterns varied, with a tendency towards stunting in severe motor dysfunction (GMFCS IV-V) and height catch-up in less affected children (GMFCS I-III).
Conclusions:
- This study provides the first GMFCS-specific longitudinal growth data for children with CP spastic diplegia post-SDR.
- Growth potential should be considered a minimum, as some children were undernourished.
- Weight and height monitoring is recommended to prevent adverse health effects of weight aberrations and ensure optimal mobility and participation.
Background:
Overweight is reported as a side effect of SDR. The aims were to study the development of weight, height and body mass index (BMI) during five years after SDR.
Methods:
This prospective, longitudinal and practice-based study included all 56 children with CP spastic diplegia undergoing SDR from the start in March 1993 to April 2003 in our hospital. The preoperative Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels were I-II in 17, III in 15, IV-V in 24 children. Median age at SDR was 4.3 years (range 2.4-7.4 years). Weight and height/recumbent length were measured. Swedish growth charts for typically developing children generated weight, height and BMI z-scores for age and gender.
Results:
The preoperative median z-scores were for height -1.92 and for body mass index (BMI) -0.22. Five years later, the median BMI z-score was increased by + 0.57 (p < 0.05). The occurrence of thinness (BMI < -2 SD) was decreased (n.s.) and obesity (BMI > + 2 SD) increased (p < 0.05). Baseline BMI and age at the start of follow-up influenced the BMI change during the five years (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05 respectively).The individual growth was highly variable, but a tendency towards increasing stunting with age was seen in severe gross motor dysfunction (GMFCS levels IV-V) and the opposite, a slight catch-up of height in children with walking ability (GMFCS levels I-III).
Conclusions:
These are the first available subtype- and GMFCS-specific longitudinal growth data for children with CP spastic diplegia. Their growth potential according to these data should be regarded as a minimum, as some children were undernourished. It is unknown whether the spasticity reduction through SDR increased the weight gain velocity, or if the relative weight increase was part of the general "obesity epidemic".For some children the weight increase was highly desirable. In others, it resulted in overweight and obesity with risk of negative health effects. Weight and height should be monitored to enable early prevention of weight aberrations also causing problems with mobility, activity and participation.
More Related Videos
05:04Enhancing the Development and Growth of Infant Cerebral Palsy Rats Using Selective Spinal Manipulations
Published on: February 2, 2024
08:26Event-related Potentials During Target-response Tasks to Study Cognitive Processes of Upper Limb Use in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy
Published on: January 11, 2016
Related Concept Videos
01:32What is Natural Selection?
00:57Antibiotic Selection
01:16Characteristics of Practical Op Amps
The ratio of differential gain to the common-mode gain is defined as the common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR). This ratio quantifies the ability of operational amplifiers (op-amps) to reject common-mode...
01:30Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice
Theories provide a perspective to assess patients' conditions and organize data and methods. They also assist in analyzing and interpreting information. They represent a...
01:28Equivalent Circuits for Practical Transformers
In a practical transformer, each winding exhibits resistance and leakage reactance. The...
00:57Population Growth