New advances in the surgical treatment of spastic cerebral palsy

  Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common type of cerebral palsy in clinical practice. It is mainly characterized by muscle stiffness during movement and motor dysfunction, often manifested as spasticity of the flexor muscle groups. Currently, the treatment plan for this type of cerebral palsy is a combination of surgery and rehabilitation, in which the early surgery plan is mainly Selective Posterior Rhizotomy (SPR) and Selective Peripheral Neurotomy (SPN).  SPN is primarily indicated for children with mild to moderate spasticity, involving few muscles and a relatively homogeneous limb. Because the peripheral nerves need to be cut, so that the corresponding muscles are completely denervated, the requirements for muscle strength are high, and the damage is irreversible, so the application of SPN is more limited, mainly used for the relief of lower limb spasticity. Through long-term basic and clinical research, we have established a new surgical approach based on SPN—Highly Selective Motor Nerve Block (HSMNB).  The biggest advantage of this procedure is that it can not only solve the spasticity of the lower extremity, but also treat most of the upper extremity spasticity; moreover, the effect of HSMNB on sensory function is very small, and through our observation, the effect on the sensation of the limbs of the children is very mild; most critically, HSMNB can be performed after the age of three years, and it can play a significant role in improving the spasticity, but the effect on the muscle strength and developmental growth.  Therefore, we believe that HSMNB is suitable for spastic cerebral palsy with more severe spasticity and part of partial mixed cerebral palsy, and is especially effective for children with upper limb spasticity and muscle tone grade 3 and above.