Cerebral palsy Flashcards
Define Cerebral Palsy?
- A Nonprogressive Upper motor neurone disease (Static encephalopathy) due to injury to immature brain
- Onset must be before first 2 years of life
- leads to muscle imbalance with a mixture of weakness and spasticity
What is the aetiology of cerebral palsy?
- Often not identifible
- Prematurity - most common
- anxoic injury
- prenatal interuterine factors
- perinatal infections - toxiplasmosis/rubella/CMV/Herpes simplex/ToRCH
- Meningitis
- Brain malformations
What orthopaedic manifestations characterise cerebral palsy?
-
Primary
- Abnormal Tone
- Loss of motor control
- Impaired balance
-
Secondary ( growth and spasticity related)
- Muscle contractures
- bony deformities
- Joint subluxation/dislocation
- Scoliosis
- foot deformities
What is the prognosis of cerebral palsy?
- Most reliable predictor for walking is independent Sitting by age 2
What is the physiological classification of cerebral palsy?
- SMAASH
-
Spastic
- Most common
- velocity- dependent increased muscle tone and Hyperreflexia
- ** slow restricted movement due to simultaneous contraction of agonist/antagonist muscles**
- most amenible to operative tx
- increased muscle tone, hyperreflexia, tone increases with velocity
-
Mixed
- usually mixed spastic and athethoid
- involves entire body
-
Athetoid
- charactersed by slow, writhing, involuntary movements
-
Ataxic
- Characterised by inability to coordinate muscle movements-> unbalanced wide based gait
-
Hypotonic
- usually precedes spastic or ataxic for 2-3 yrs
What is the anatomical classification of cerebral palsy?
-
Quadriplegic
- total body and nonambulatory
- low IQ
- High mortality
-
Diplegic
- Legs > than arms
- Still ambulatory
- IQ maybe normal ( injury in brain is midline)
-
Hemiplegic
- Arms and legs on **1 side of body **
- Usually with Spascitity
- Will eventually be able to walk, regardless of TX
Describe your evaluation of a CP pt?
- HX
- Perinatal hx
- Growth and development
- Prior medical tx
- functional status
- Nutritional status
- Respiratory function
- Sitting/standing position
- Upper/lower extremities function
- Communication skils
- Acuity of hearing/vision
- EXam
- Musculoskeletal system
- Motion, tone and strength
- Hamstring contractures ->decrease lumbar lordosis
- Hip contractures-> xs lumbar lordosis
- Spine exam
- look at flexibility of curve
- spinal balance and shoulder height
- pelvic obliquity
- Musculoskeletal system
What does MRi of brain in cerebral palsy show?
- Periventricular leukomalacia
What is the general tx of cerebral palsy pts?
Non operative
- PT, Bracing/orthotics and medication for spasiticity
Operative
Surgery to improve function should be considered in child > 3years with spasticity and volunary muscle control
-
Mutlilevel soft tissue procedures
- preform early < 5 years
- techniques
- Tenotomies for continuously active muscles ( hip adductors)
- Tendon lengthening - Achilles/hamstring
- tendon transfers for muscles firing out of phase ( rectus tendon/tibialis posterior)
- Bony procedures- scoilosis/pelvic osteotomies later in life >5 yrs
-
Rhizotomy
- Neurosurigcal resection of dorsal roolets that do not show a myographic or clinical response to stimulation
- for child 4-8 ambulatory spastic diplegic and stable gait pattern that is limited by lower extremity spasticity
What medication is used to tx spasticity in cerebral palsy?
-
Botox
- Botulinum - toxin A ( acetylcholinesterase)
- Competitive inhibitor of presynaptic cholinergic receptors (decreases acetylcholine) with a finite lifetime ( lasts 2-3 months)
- used to maintain joint motion during rapid growth when a child is too young for surgery
- Often injected into gastronemius
-
Baclofen
- reduced tone via unknown mechanism
- though to act as a agonist presynaptic GABA ( gamma-aminobutyric acid) occurs primarly at spinal cord to inhibit monosynaptic ?polysynaptic reflexes
- intra-thecal administration is preferred route to avoid cognitive impairment seen with oral administration
Describe the epidemiology of scoliosis in cerebral palsy?
- Overall incidence 20%
- More severe the cerebral palsy the more likely of scoliosis
- Spastic quadriplegic highest risk- esp if no ablity to sit
- bedridden children approach 100% scoliosis
- spinal deformity rare in ambulatory cerebral palsy pt
What is the difference between cerebral palsy scoliosis and idiopathic scoliosis?
-
More likely to progress
- 1-2o per month starting at 8/10 years
- Curve begins at earlier age
- Curve is long, C shaped
- Bracing is less effective
What is the aetioogy of scoliosis in cerebral palsy?
- Muscle weakness and truncal imbalance implicated but little evidence
- Pelvic obliquity -> deforming forces on spine and scoliosis
What is the natural hx of scoliosis in cerebral palsy?
- Larger the curve mre likely to progress
- larger curves associated with pelvic deformity and obliquity
What is the classification of cerebral palsy scoliosis?
- Weinstein
- Group 1- Double curves with thoracic/lumbar component & minimal pelvic obliquity
- Group 2- large lumbar or thoracolumbar curves with marked pelvic obliquity
What imaging is useful in cerebral palsy scoliosis?
- Do standing and erect films wherever possible
-
Standing AP and lateral
- look for rib deformity, wedging, spinal rotation
- look for spondylolithesis on lateral (4-21% w spastic diplegia)
-
Bending films
- evaluate flexibility of curve
- MRI- not routinely used for spinal surgery unless sudden progression in scoliosis/changes in neuro exam