Surgical management of spastic diplegia in cerebral palsy
Article Abstract:
Patients with spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy, suffer from muscle weakness and muscle spasticity in their lower limbs. Spastic diplegia is caused by brain damage associated with premature birth and low birth weight. Impaired movement in patients with spastic diplegia is caused by muscle weakness, loss of dexterity, abnormal sensory perception, contraction of muscles and joints, reflex abnormalities and spasticity. The criteria for diagnosis of patients with spastic diplegia are not firmly established, but most patients are diagnosed by a combination of neurological findings and orthopedic abnormalities. Tests used to diagnose or determine treatment for patients with spastic diplegia include hip X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) and gait analysis. Patients with spastic diplegia undergo treatment to decrease spasticity and muscle contractions, and to correct orthopedic deformities. Treatments include antispastic drugs, physical therapy and surgery. Patients undergo surgery to lengthen and release muscles and tendons or to correct bone deformities. Dorsal rhizotomy, another type of operation these patients undergo, attempts to reduce spasticity by decreasing the number of neurological signals transmitted to the muscles.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1992
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A 68-year-old woman with multiple myeloma, diabetes mellitus, and an inflamed eye
Article Abstract:
A 68-year-old woman was admitted to a hospital with complications from multiple myeloma. She also had a history of type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Two weeks prior to admission, she developed bruising and bleeding from her mouth. A chest X-ray revealed lung disease. She developed pain in her right eye, which was found to be caused by an infection. Her doctors suspected that she had a fungal infection in her nose, sinuses and eye-socket. This was confirmed by a biopsy of her nose, which revealed a fungal infection called mucormycosis.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1999
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A 59-year-old diabetic man with unilateral visual loss and oculomotor-nerve palsy
Article Abstract:
A 59-year-old diabetic with loss of vision in his right eye and paralysis of the muscles of the eye was diagnosed with a fungal infection in his sinuses. The infection was mucormycosis, which occurs more often in diabetics than in healthy individuals.
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 2001
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