What does access to adequate botox treatment do for children with CP? Reduces the need for surgery from 40 to 15%!

I do not understand why I see kids in clinic who have leg or arm spasticity and the families are content to get treatment every year or every 6 months...or worse...not at all!?!  - JR

J Pediatr Orthop B. 2005 Jul;14(4):269-73.

Prevention of severe contractures might replace multilevel surgery in cerebral palsy: results of a population-based health care programme and new techniques to reduce spasticity.

Hägglund G1, Andersson S, Düppe H, Lauge-Pedersen H, Nordmark E, Westbom L.

Author information

Erratum in

• J Pediatr Orthop B. 2005 Sep;14(5):388. Pedertsen, Henrik Lauge [corrected to Lauge-Pedersen, Henrik].

Abstract

During the 1990s three new techniques to reduce spasticity and dystonia in children with cerebral palsy (CP) were introduced in southern Sweden: selective dorsal rhizotomy, continuous intrathecal baclofen infusion and botulinum toxin treatment. In 1994 a CP register and a health care programme, aimed to prevent hip dislocation and severe contractures, were initiated in the area. The total population of children with CP born 1990-1991, 1992-1993 and 1994-1995 was evaluated and compared at 8 years of age. In non-ambulant children the passive range of motion in hip, knee and ankle improved significantly from the first to the later age groups. Ambulant children had similar range of motion in the three age groups, with almost no severe contractures. The proportion of children treated with orthopaedic surgery for contracture or skeletal torsion deformity decreased from 40 to 15% (P = 0.0019). One-fifth of the children with spastic diplegia had been treated with selective dorsal rhizotomy. One-third of the children born 1994-1995 had been treated with botulinum toxin before 8 years of age. With early treatment of spasticity, early non-operative treatment of contracture and prevention of hip dislocation, the need for orthopaedic surgery for contracture or torsion deformity is reduced, and the need for multilevel procedures seems to be eliminated.

PMID:

 

15931031

 

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Cut through the fog: An evidence-based review of treatments for children with cerebral palsy

As a parent, I am also subject to all kinds of claims of efficacy for treatment. 

How can you cut through the fog?

As a member of the Academy of CP and Developmental medicine, I suggest this very readable article for parents of children with CP to educate themselves on best practices.

- Dr. Rotenberg

New Clinical and Research Trends in Lower Extremity Management for Ambulatory Children with Cerebral Palsy

Synopsis

Cerebral palsy is the most prevalent physical disability in childhood and includes a group of disorders with varying manifestations and levels of capability in individuals given this diagnosis. This chapter will focus on current and future intervention strategies for improving mobility and participation over the lifespan for ambulatory children with cerebral palsy (CP). The provision and integration of physical therapy, medical and orthopedic surgery management focused primarily on the lower extremities will be discussed here. Some of the newer trends are: more intense and task-related exercise strategies, greater precision in tone identification and management, and a shift towards musculoskeletal surgery that focuses more on promoting dynamic bony alignment and less on releasing or lengthening tendons. Advances in basic and clinical science and technology development are changing existing paradigms and offering renewed hope for improved functioning for children with CP who are currently facing a lifelong disability with unique challenges at each stage in life.

"... it is the intensity of walking practice, rather than the use of a device, that produces the positive functional outcomes"

Full article here

Does Childhood Asthma Lead to COPD?

Early childhood asthma, particularly when severe, seems to impart risk of COPD - an adult condition associated with abnormal lung function that declines over time faster than the general population.  Can controlling asthma early prevent this? Dr. Susarla

The association between childhood asthma and adult chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

INTRODUCTION:

There is epidemiological evidence to suggest that events in childhood influence lung growth and constitute a significant risk for adult COPD. The aim of the study is to evaluate for an association between childhood asthma and adult COPD.

METHODS:

This longitudinal, prospective study of 6-7-year-old children with asthma has been regularly reviewed every 7 years to the current analysis at 50 years of age. Participants completed respiratory questionnaires and lung function spirometry with postbronchodilator response. At the age of 50, subjects were classified to the following subgroups: non-asthmatics, asthma remission, current asthma and COPD which was defined by FEV₁ to FVC ratio postbronchodilator of less than 0.7.

RESULTS:

Of the remaining survivors, 346 participated in the current study (participation rate of 76%) of whom 197 completed both questionnaire and lung function testing. As compared with children without symptoms of wheeze to the age of 7, (non-asthmatics) children with severe asthma had an adjusted 32 times higher risk for developing COPD (95% CI 3.4 to 269). In this cohort, 43% of the COPD group had never smoked. There was no evidence of a difference in the rate of decline in FEV₁ (mL/year, 95th CI) between the COPD group (17, 10 to 23) and the other groups: non-asthmatics (16, 12 to 21), asthma remission (20, 16 to 24) and current asthma (19, 13 to 25).

CONCLUSIONS:

Children with severe asthma are at increased risk of developing COPD.

Article linked here.

Roche drug cuts asthma attacks, improves lung function -study

"Biological therapies" are the new frontier in asthma treatment, especially for patients with more severe disease. These antibody based medications provide a more targeted  strategy in asthma treatment compared to conventional asthma medications.  Dr. Susarla

Roche drug cuts asthma attacks, improves lung function -study

(Reuters) - An experimental drug reduced asthma attacks in patients with severe uncontrolled asthma by 60 percent and helped improve lung function in certain patients, indicating that the drug could offer the first personalized approach to treatment, according to data from a clinical trial released on Tuesday.

The biotech drug lebrikizumab, which was developed by Roche Holding's Genentech unit, was tested at three doses in patients whose asthma was not sufficiently controlled even with high-dose, inhaled corticosteroids and a second asthma-controlling therapy.

In the 463-patient Phase IIb study, lebrikizumab reduced asthma attacks by a statistically significant 60 percent more than a placebo in patients found to have a high level of the protein periostin, according to pooled data from the three doses tested - 37.5 milligrams, 125 mg and 250 mg. That compared with a 5 percent reduction versus placebo over 28 to 52 weeks of treatment in those with low levels of periostin.

"If this drug gets approved we would have for the first time a personalized approach other than just blanket therapy for everyone with uncontrolled disease," Dr Nicola Hanania, one of the study's lead investigators, said in a telephone interview.

Lebrikizumab works by blocking interleukin-13, or IL-13, which contributes to airway inflammation and mucous production. Periostin is believed to be a biomarker for IL-13 activity and a likely predictor of how well the Roche drug will work.

Roche is also developing a blood test for periostin in order to identify the patients most likely to benefit from lebrikizumab, which is injected once every four weeks.

Hanania, who is director of the Asthma Clinical Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, called the data from the study "very exciting."

In those with severe asthma receiving existing treatments, "we still see patients who still have symptoms, who still have exacerbations, hospital admissions, and this is the type of patient this study was targeting," he said.

Curiously, the greatest level of asthma attack reduction, at 81 percent, was seen with the lowest dose of lebrikizumab, something that Hanania called surprising. Hanania, who presented the data at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) meeting in San Diego, noted, "Higher is not always the better."

Fifteen percent of the estimated 25 million Americans with asthma suffer from severe asthma, according to the National Institutes of Health. About half of severe asthmatics are believed to have high periostin levels.

Among patients with high level periostin, the drug improved lung function by 9.1 percent after 12 weeks, compared with an improvement of just 2.6 percent in the low periostin group.

Lung function was tested by change in FEV1, a measure of the maximum amount of air that can be forcibly exhaled in one second. The greatest improvement in FEV1, of 10.7 percent, was seen with the 125 mg dose of lebrikizumab.

"Statistically it's significant, and I believe it is clinically significant because it goes hand in hand with reduction in exacerbations," Hanania said of the lung function improvement seen in the high periostin group.

The incidence of serious adverse side effects was low and similar in the lebrikizumab and placebo arms of the study, researchers said.

"The safety profile was very reassuring. Nothing really stood out as major side effect or major serious adverse effect," Hanania said.

If the results are replicated in large, ongoing Phase III trials that will include more than 2,000 patients, Roche said it expects to seek approval for the drug in 2016.

"As a clinician, this is important because there is a great need for additional therapy for those with poorly controlled asthma," Hanania said. "It's a light at the end of the tunnel."

Read article here.