A group of researchers has discovered a new method to better assess movement disorder in children with cerebral palsy.
Data shows that cerebral palsy affects roughly one in 345 children in the United States, with more than half of them experiencing an issue known as dystonia. This is the involuntary and usually painful contractions of a person's muscles, usually in the legs, that lead to abnormal movement and postures.
Identifying Dystonia in Kids With Cerebral Palsy
Doctors have traditionally relied on subjective assessment for diagnosing dystonia, which can be inconsistent and lead to delayed treatment for patients. This delay can lead to worsening conditions in children with cerebral palsy and make it harder to treat.
But now, a team led by Bhooma Aravamuthan has been able to identify an objective way of measuring leg dystonia in children who have cerebral palsy. The new method evaluates leg movement variability, specifically the extent to which a child's legs adduct or move toward the center of their bodies, according to WashU Medicine.
With the use of this straightforward method, doctors will be able to quickly and accurately determine the severity of dystonia in their patients and tailor treatments as needed. The researchers, to better understand the causes of dystonia, identified in mice the conditions and brain region linked with leg movement variability.
The results of the team's findings were published online on July 3 in Annals of Neurology. Aravamuthan said that they have an "overarching goal" of standardizing dystonia assessment by quantifying diagnoses that were previously based on doctors' gut feelings.
The Research Team's Findings
The team's research features a two-pronged investigation that started with a comprehensive clinical study that involved 193 children with cerebral palsy aged three years and up. A panel, comprised of eight experienced pediatric movement disorder experts, independently reviewed video recordings of the kids performing seated hand tasks, Bioengineer reported.
They then identified a robust correlation between the variability in leg movements, which manifested in inconsistent leg angles and positions, and traditional clinical ratings of dystonia severity.
The researchers' findings underline leg movement variability as a biologically grounded and clinically meaningful biomarker that resonates with expert clinical judgment. The study also comes as there is a modern rehabilitation unit that will open in KGMU in the pediatric orthopedics department.
The unit will provide complete care for children in India who have cerebral palsy starting next week. KGMU vice chancellor Soniya Nityanand was the one who approved the project last year, noting that it will focus on recovery after surgery and treatment without surgery, as per the Times of India.
