Letter
NICE on spasticity
Selective dorsal rhizotomy remains experimental in cerebral palsy
Cite this as:
BMJ
2012;345:e6670
- Neurosurgery
- Physiotherapy
- Sports and exercise medicine
- Child health
- Cerebral palsy
- Competing interests (ethics)
- Pain (neurology)
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Fewer topics
- Michael A Crilly, senior lecturer in clinical epidemiology1
- 1Polwarth Building, Aberdeen University Medical School, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK
- mike.crilly{at}abdn.ac.uk
The recent guideline from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the clinical management of children with cerebral palsy advises clinicians to consider selective dorsal rhizotomy to improve walking.1 The guideline, however, omits publications on the benefits and harms of the procedure.2 3 4
Only three small randomised clinical trials have assessed its effectiveness (combined with post-operative physiotherapy) compared with physiotherapy …
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