Adductor transfers in cerebral palsy: long-term results studied by gait analysis

Thirty-three ambulatory patients with spastic cerebral palsy underwent evaluation and gait analysis an average of 9.6 years after bilateral posterior adductor transfers to the ischium. All patients showed functional improvement postoperatively, which was maintained at long-term follow-up in 94%. Gait analysis, however, documented pelvic obliquity in 85% of this group of patients. Associated with pelvic obliquity was a 36% incidence of unilateral hip subluxation. These complications of posterior adductor transfers have been difficult to treat and have resulted in the abandonment of this procedure at our institution.